LARISSA, Greece (AP) — A criminal trial opened in Greece Monday over a train collision that killed 57 people, many of them students, in a disaster that horrified the country and revealed long-neglected safety failures.

The February 2023 crash triggered a fireball on impact and left passengers trapped in mangled rail cars.

Most of the 36 defendants — all rail and transport officials — face serious charges linked to endangering public transport.

The crash occurred at Tempe in northern Greece after a passenger train was placed on the wrong track, into the path of an oncoming freight train — an astonishing lapse on a rudimentary rail network.

Investigators say the error was compounded by non-functioning signal systems along with failures in staffing, oversight and maintenance during years of delays in safety upgrades.

A converted campus is being used to house the trial to accommodate the scale of the proceedings that involve hundreds of witnesses. It is expected to last two years.

Riot police formed a cordon around the court as several hundred demonstrators gathered outside and victims' relatives, many dressed in black, arrived to attend the hearings.

“Real justice would be to get our kids back. But what we are asking for now is the exemplary punishment of those responsible,” said Pavlos Aslanidis, whose 27-year-old son Dimitris was killed in the crash. "It is very sad that three years later, no one has gone to jail.

The defendants include station masters on duty that night, their supervisor, former rail officials, senior transport ministry staff and former executives from the Italian-owned operator Hellenic Train.

Victims’ families, many of whom have campaigned for accountability, are expected to attend throughout.

The disaster has remained a deeply emotive and politically charged issue, sparking multiple public protests and strikes, with critics accusing the conservative government of shifting all responsibility onto rail officials.

At a makeshift memorial outside parliament in Athens, the victims’ names are written in red paint and surrounded by candles and flowers.

Several separate legal cases linked to the disaster are in progress, including a parliament-sanctioned probe into political accountability.

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Kantouris reported from Tempe, Greece