Greek rail workers extend strike as anger grows over deadly train crash

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Railway workers in Greece are staging another 24-hour strike on Friday amid growing anger over a deadly crash that has now claimed at least 57 lives.

The strike was called by the Panhellenic Federation of Rail Workers (POS), which blames Tuesday’s fiery accident near the city of Larissa on the government’s failure to upgrade an outdated railway network.

The union held an initial daylong strike on Thursday.

All national and suburban railway routes will be affected on Friday, the state-run AMNA news agency reported.

A POS statement said the union will draw up a report on “all outstanding issues of the Greek national railway system” and plans to meet the Transport Ministry and political leaders latest by next week, the report said.

In the meetings, the POS said it will demand “a specific timetable for implementing reforms and introducing safety measures.”

The union said the discussions will be followed by a press conference “to brief the entire Greek society and the railroad sector on all these things POS has been warning about all these years about safety but was never listened to seriously,” according to the report.