A holistic intervention in the way OSE operates and in the safeguards for train traffic is expected to be made by the government at today’s ministerial meeting, as the bill drafted by the deputy transport minister Konstantinos Kyranakis will be presented, based on the “PPC model”.

In direct cooperation with the deputy prime minister Kostis Chatzidakis, who in 2019 was the one who had taken over the “hot potato” of the then PPC, Mr. Kyranakis – in cooperation with the Minister of Infrastructure Christos Dimas – will present the overall plan that has been developed and concerns the model of corporate operation, the way of recruitment and management of the Agency’s supplies and, of course, the increased provisions for safer train traffic.

The new approach to the management of the Agency’s fleet and the planned improvements to the safety of the transport system.

At a given distance from the “intermittent period” of protests over the Tempi protests, the government is bringing about perhaps the biggest institutional break in the operation of the OSE in a long time. Based on the conclusion of EODASAM, after all, the OSE is described as a “black hole”, a company without a modern operating culture and highly understaffed.

Responding to a relevant question in his interview on protothema.gr’s “Direct” show, Kyriakos Mitsotakis dismissed the accusation of late intervention. “We should not delete the effort that has been made over the last two years. We are not starting from scratch,” Mitsotakis said, adding that “there will be a drastic intervention in the way the new Greek railways organisation operates.” It should be noted that at the end of the year the previous political leadership had initiated the establishment of the successor company of OSE, the Hellenic Railways S.A., although so far the new corporate structure has remained on paper.

Unified Supervision Center

Starting with the enhanced safety provisions, a central pillar of the bill will be the establishment of the Unified Traffic Supervision Center on the network. This will be a secondary center, which will have overall oversight over the network and will not be involved in traffic management, as local telecenters do. To this end, all trains running on the network, not just passenger trains, will carry HEPOS transponders, which give a real-time picture of the location of each train. Competent sources estimate that in about three to four months the majority of trains will be equipped with this system in an attempt to make the new OSE operate according to the new standards.

As Thema wrote a month ago, revealing the government’s intentions, the position of the train supervisor, which has been abolished years ago and constitutes another safety valve, will be reinstated by legislative provision. Still, it is expected that the company’s operating regulations will be significantly tightened and will even provide for the possibility of dismissing an employee, depending on the misconduct he or she has committed. “An employee who is found to be working under the influence of drugs cannot be fired,” a competent government source said. Also, much stricter filters will be provided for the evaluation of employees, both during recruitment and during their employment, using psychometric and drug tests. Just a few weeks ago, after all, candidate employees were “cut” from a hiring process as they were found under the influence of drugs.

The bill will also include the possibility of even revoking the licenses of companies operating in Greece if they engage in unethical or abusive actions. Finally, it will provide for the improvement of the video surveillance mechanism, in an effort to safeguard the company’s material that often falls prey to Roma gangs that have been “looting” lines and cables for years.

Increased pay for executives

Deep cuts are also expected in the corporate operations arm, along the lines of the PPC. According to “Thema” information, for the top and senior executives of the new company (managing director, director of corporate operations, general manager, directors and deputy directors) the pay system will be adjusted and excluded from the framework of the Unified Salary List, in order to allow the Public Sector to attract executives possibly with foreign experience for these responsible positions.

According to the same information, after the passage of the bill, expected in May, an open competition will be run to attract executives for positions of responsibility, while the minister in charge, Mr. Kyranakis, has made contacts with Greeks who have similar positions in foreign companies. “Without more money, no one comes to put their head in the dorba,” acknowledges a central government source, explaining that this process has been extremely successful in the case of PPC in previous years, resulting in the overall transformation of the company, which ceased to be a “black hole”. The executives to be recruited will have three- or four-year contracts, which can be renewed once, and it will not be forbidden for them to come from the existing staff of the organisation. Pending the completion of the relevant procedure and the appointment of a new management, the current management of the OSE, which was transitional until it was made permanent, will remain in place.

Fast track recruitment and procurement

A key problem with the public sector is the very slow pace of hiring and, as noted above, a key problem with the OSE is that it is severely understaffed. With the bill, the government aspires to speed up the process by untangling the APSC from the approval process. “The recruitment will be done quickly, with the ASEP overseeing the process, but not the current process,” says a knowledgeable source, adding that its main role will be to approve the notice. The aim is for the new agency to be staffed soon and to fill several gaps in the organisation chart after years of “leakage” of experienced staff due to retirements and non-replacement. The bill is also expected to incorporate European directives on recruitment in organisations supervised by the Ministry of Transport, such as EODASAM, and the Railways Regulatory Authority (RRA). In the case of the RAS in particular, it is imperative that inspectors are recruited as we are in infringement proceedings by the European Commission.

A similar intervention in the logic of speeding up the procedures will be made in the field of procurement, as was recently done in the case of the Yperta Fund. According to reports, contracts of up to 5 million euros will be exempted from the provisions of Law 4412 in order for the new Agency to gain more flexibility for the procurement of material and so on

The conclusion

The bill under submission is expected to sort of reignite the debate on the management of the Tempi accident, which is still a long way from taking the judicial route. A key shortcoming is the NTU report commissioned by the appellate investigator Sotiris Bakaimis from NTU professor Dimitris Karoni, regarding the causes of the fireball. Mr. Karonis has still not delivered it, although the order has been given more than a year ago. Also, EODASAM is expected to further investigate the fireball aspect in turn, while a replacement for the resigned deputy chairman of the organisation and head of the railway sector Christos Papadimitriou is still to be found.