[InTime News]
Greek railway authorities have begun reassessing personnel, focusing on station masters, by subjecting them to psychometric evaluations, reflex tests, and time-pressured assessments, Deputy Minister of Transport Konstantinos Kyranakis has told local media outlet SKAI.
As part of this process, two trainees – who had not yet assumed official duties – were deemed unfit and dismissed from the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) after medical tests revealed they were under the influence of narcotic substances, the deputy minister said.
According to OSE, the dismissed individuals were among 109 trainees preparing for station-master positions but had not yet begun their roles. The two men, OSE has informed, were not on the company’s payroll but, instead, had been engaged as external associates.
OSE recently launched a tender inviting medical experts to conduct psychometric evaluations for staff in critical roles.
The initiative was taken after the release, earlier this year, of a report by the National Organization for the Investigation of Air and Rail Accidents (EODASAM) into the fatal train collision at Tempe in central Greece in late February 2023. The report revealed significant safety flaws within Greece’s rail system.