The Greek prime minister has vowed to upgrade the country’s railways as his embattled government braces for a vote of no confidence after huge protests over a 2023 train crash that killed 57 people.

Two days after  over the response to the disaster on its second anniversary, Kyriakos Mitsotakis acknowledged that not enough had been done to build a “safe and modern” transport system, saying the largest protests in recent history had emphasised the demand for action.

The  occurred on the Athens-Thessaloniki line when an intercity train crammed with students hit a freight train head-on in the gorge of Tempe.

“Our infrastructure must be modernised and made safe, because what has been done in recent years is simply not enough,” Mitsotakis said in a weekly online address, dedicated solely to the disaster which killed 57 mostly young people and left scores of others injured on the night of 28 February 2023.

“The citizens – both those who marched in protest and those who grieved in silence – demanded the obvious: truth and justice for the victims, a state that takes action to ensure such a tragedy is never repeated \ safe and modern public transport that the country deserves.”

Change, he vowed, would begin with the Athens-Thessaloniki line where the locomotives had careered towards each other at high speed along the same track.

The scale of Friday’s protests have proved beyond doubt that Mitsotakis is facing his biggest test since being elected in July 2019.

Critics accuse him of putting the needs of his fractious New Democracy party before public outrage in what is seen as a rare miscalculation by a politician who has prided himself on his ability to handle crises.


*Kyriakos Mitsotakis is facing his biggest test since being elected in July 2019. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters*

“In a state governed by the rule of law, only the judiciary has the responsibility, authority, and ability to bring clarity to a case that has caused us so much pain – not political parties, nor public opinion,” he wrote.

But with polls showing the overwhelming majority of Greeks no longer have any trust in public institutions or the judicial system, opposition parties are determined to keep up the pressure.

The main opposition Pasok party has signalled it will file a vote of no confidence on Wednesday that is expected to trigger days of fiery debate in parliament, while protesters continue to hold vigils in honour of the dead outside the building.
```