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by IANS |
Athens, March 9 (IANS) The Greek government has announced a set of measures aimed to improve the safety of railway system in the wake of the deadly train collision last week that resulted in 57 deaths.
"Suffering must be followed by catharsis," Giorgos Gerapetritis, state minister responsible for infrastructure and transport, told a press briefing on Wednesday.
He also apologised for the worst railway tragedy in Greece, pledging swift steps to complete all necessary works to upgrade the system and prevent such accidents in the future, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Minister announced an increase in the state budget to address understaffing and shortage of railway equipment.
He said the government would step up procedures to fill in the gaps in the signaling network and upgrade the safety system.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has also publicly acknowledged the state's chronic mistakes for the state of the railways system.
Also on Wednesday, thousands of protesters hit the streets of Athens and other cities across the country as labour unions called a 24-hour nationwide strike over the tragedy.
According to police estimates, approximately 30,000 people took to the streets in central Athens, calling for "justice" and "modern and safe public transport".
Similar protests were held in several other cities, including Thessaloniki in northern Greece.
They were organised by the umbrella union of civil servants ADEDY, labour unions of mass transportation, and students' and teachers' associations among others.
Many of the crash victims were university students returning to class after short holidays.
"Me and my friends would take this train route very often. If it was someone I knew (among the victims), if it were me, obviously I would want someone to come here and shout for me," Lefteris, a student of physiotherapy told Xinhua during a protest in Thessaloniki.
"As a mother, what happened hurt me a lot. I feel huge disappointment, tremendous rage," said Fotini, another protester.
