Greece: real-time satellite train tracking system goes live on railway.gov.gr

Three years after the Tempi head-on train collision, a system goes live that should prevent this from ever occurring again. Greece has deployed a high-precision satellite tracking system for its rail network, with the official launch of railway.gov.gr on February 26. The unified digital platform now provides real-time monitoring of trains, starting with the Athens-Thessaloniki axis, before expanding to the entire national network by the end of April. 

It’s almost exactly three years ago. On 28 February 2023, 57 people lost their lives in the head-on collision between a passenger and a freight train in the Tempi valley in Greece. It shocked the nation, led to countrywide strikes and protests, and made one thing clear: people would not trust the safety of the railway system unless major action is taken.

With the launch of a live train-tracking system using satellites, which can be followed live on railway.gov.gr, an important step has been taken to improve safety and regain trust in the Greek railways. It incorporates seven key safety recommendations from the EODASAAM report following the Tempi disaster, including documented operational data, continuous security monitoring, and upgraded supervisory controls, says the Greek Ministry of Transport.

Since there are only 4 train departures each day between Athens and Thessaloniki (2 each way), often the website shows no live data available, so that is not because the system is not working. By the end of april, all trains should appear on the website.

No replacement for signalling

The Ministry emphasise the system does not replace existing security systems—signalling could also have prevented the train collision, which was the result of a human error of the stationmaster of Larissa, combined with a lack of signalling. Rollout of ERTMS is also a priority; the goal is that by this summer the entire Athens-Thessaloniki axis will operate with “100% signalling, 100% remote control and 100% ETCS, the automatic train braking system”, said the Ministry in January.

The live train tracking is meant as an additional safety valve. “railway.gov.gr is not just an information application. A special team of executives now operates at the OSE Control Center, which constantly monitors automated system notifications. Their mission is to intervene immediately when a violation of traffic rules is detected”, says the Transport Ministry.

The platform not only offers public transparency, allowing citizens to track train positions, speeds, delays, and live video feeds. But the ministry emphasises railway.gov.gr is “not just an information application”. “A special team of executives now operates at the OSE Control Center, which constantly monitors automated system notifications. Their mission is to intervene immediately when a violation of traffic rules is detected.”

From paper orders to centimetre-level tracking

The new system eliminates outdated practices, such as handwritten route instructions, a method Secretary General of Transport Stelios Sakaretsios described to CNN Greece as “belonging to another era”. “In the first days after I took office in the summer and we travelled with [Alternate Transport Minister] Mr. Kyranakis from Athens to Thessaloniki to get an idea of ​​the actual operation of the railway”, he said.

“I will never forget the image of a stationmaster at a stop, coming to the engine and giving a piece of paper with the route the train should follow to the train driver. That was essentially the order, which did not exist… It may have been transmitted orally, but it was not recorded in a digital database, nor was its execution controlled. Today, with railway.gov.gr, we are creating the digital register of orders and violations.”

The new tracking system combines Greek HEPOS and European Galileo satellite technologies to deliver centimetre-level accuracy. That is much more precies than conventional GPS, which can deviate by up to 15 metres. Unlike traditional GPS, the platform also integrates a digitally mapped railway network and map-matching algorithms, ensuring precise tracking even in tunnels or low-signal areas. “This is not a simple digital application,” Sakaretsios emphasised. “This is a new operational infrastructure, where each train is tracked in real time, with centimetre accuracy and certainty as to the line on which it is moving.”

If two trains were to be on a collision course, the system triggers automatic alerts, including a “piercing sound signal”. “It guarantees that we will know automatically in a few seconds, so that there can be an immediate reaction from OSE to avoid and never repeat a tragedy like the one in Tempi,” said Sakaretsios.

A triple reform: Infrastructure, trains, and digital oversight

The launch of railway.gov.gr is part of a broader modernisation strategy to bring much-needed safety upgrades to the Greek railways.

Under this plan, the Athens-Thessaloniki axis is undergoing full upgrades, with 100% signalling, remote control, and ETCS implementation expected by summer 2026. The system has already been installed on 100 trains, marking a critical step in Greece’s rail digitalisation.

A €308 million investment is funding the purchase of 23 new trains, set for delivery by 2027, replacing outdated rolling stock. Alongside these upgrades, institutional reforms introduced in 2025 have restructured OSE, Greece’s national rail operator. This eliminated fragmented responsibilities, imposed stricter penalties for operational errors, and strengthened oversight through the Regulatory Authority for Railways (RAS) and EODASAAM (Greece’s Aviation and Railway Safety Investigation Agency), says the Transport Ministry. The reforms also include new staff training programmes with modern simulators.

Union cautious: “Safer today, but projects must be completed”

Secretary General of Transport Stelios Sakaretsios hailed railway.gov.gr as “a revolution” for Greek rail safety.  “For the first time, the constant challenge—which is to know at all times, with precision, where each train is—becomes a reality,” he said. The unions are not using such big words, but train drivers’ union president Kostas Genidounias did acknowledge the safety improvements made since the Tempi disaster.

“The situation has improved compared to what happened on the night of Tempi,” says Kostas Genidounias, but he emphasises that currently the Greek railway is “underperforming”, he told CNN Greece. He notes that current lower speeds and reduced train frequencies could mitigate risks rather than eliminate them however, saying “At the current pace of work, the railway is safe… until the projects are completed, because speeds are lower and there are fewer trains, so the railway is safe under the current circumstances.”

From uncertainty to “documented safety”

The new real-time collision detection, automated notifications, and 24/7 monitoring by a dedicated OSE control team form what Kyranakis called “an era of transparency, accountability, and documented safety.” By April 2026, all 140 locomotives operating on Greece’s 2,000-kilometre network should be equipped with the system, ending the era of operational blind spots.

“The railway is definitively entering the era of documented supervision and constant digital monitoring,” Sakaretsios concluded. The comprehensive safety of the Greek railway system also depends largely on the rollout of digital signalling ERTMS, however.