Fifty-seven people died in Greece’s worst rail disaster. Most were college students returning from a carnival weekend. On Monday, their families couldn’t even get into the courtroom.

The long-awaited criminal trial over the 2023 Tempe train collision opened in the central city of Larissa only to be adjourned within hours. The venue—a converted university lecture hall, one of Greece’s largest courtrooms—was so overcrowded that the presiding judge suspended proceedings, citing “conditions that could cause fainting.”

Relatives of the dead described being “packed like sardines.” Maria Karystianou, who leads the victims’ families association and lost her daughter in the crash, said survivors were forced to sit in the seats reserved for the accused. Two lawyers formally complained to the fire department. Outside, hundreds of demonstrators gathered behind police cordons.

The adjournment until April 1 compounds three years of grief and outrage. On February 28, 2023, a passenger train and a freight train ran on the same track for more than 10 minutes without triggering any alarm before colliding head-on near Tempe in northern Greece. The impact triggered a fireball; some victims are believed to have burned to death after surviving the initial crash.

Thirty-six defendants face charges, including the station master on duty that night, rail officials, transport ministry staff, and two executives from the Italian-owned operator Hellenic Train. Thirty-three face criminal charges carrying potential life sentences. None are currently jailed.

No politician will stand trial—a fact that has fueled sustained anger at Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s government. Critics note that evidence was lost when the crash site was bulldozed days after the collision. Laura Kovesi, head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, said the disaster could have been prevented if EU-funded safety upgrades had been completed on time.

“Real justice would be to get our kids back,” said Pavlos Aslanidis, whose 27-year-old son died. “But what we are asking for now is the exemplary punishment of those responsible.”

The trial is expected to last two years.

Sources