Brothers face felony charges for stealing railway equipment
Two brothers, aged 43 and 49, face criminal charges, including for endangering public safety, after allegedly stealing a railroad tie.
The metal tie was stolen from a Hellenic Railways (OSE) storage facility on the Veria-Edessa line in northern Greece and found in the trunk of the brothers’ car, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency reported on Thursday.
Illegal scrap metal rackets are known to strip parts from railways, bridges and other infrastructure.
The theft of any equipment associated with public transportation has now become a felony since the deadly February 28 railway collision at Tempe in central Greece.
The head-on collision led to the deaths of 57 people and sparked a public outcry, protests and strikes over the state of the Greek railway network. Many of the passengers were students returning after a long weekend.
