Sindos: fire cuts railway line

A fire in low vegetation in Sindo, Delta Municipality, Thessaloniki, broke out on Saturday afternoon, August 8, escalating rapidly beyond the capacity of local firefighting services. The Fire Service was notified around 15:30, but the fire’s proximity to the railway corridor changed the scale of the incident. Within minutes, the issue became not merely firefighting but ensuring the safety of train traffic on one of Northern Greece’s busiest corridors.

At the scene, 25 firefighters with nine vehicles, a hiking team from the 2nd EMOTE, volunteer firefighters, and a helicopter deployed, while the Thessaloniki Municipality assisted with water trucks. ESKEDIK continuously monitored the front via a drone equipped with thermal and optical cameras, a tool that allows detection of hotspots beneath smoke. At 15:45, on orders from the Fire Service and OSE, railway traffic and electrification were cut on the Thessaloniki–Sindo–Kastanias section.

The decision to cut services immediately passed the cost to passengers. Train 1598 from Larisa to Thessaloniki was immobilized at Plateos Station with 91 passengers, while train 1735 bound for Edessa remained at Thessaloniki Station. The Thessaloniki Suburban was affected with delays, route modifications, and bus replacement for portions of the route. In parallel, the Arson Investigation Unit of Thessaloniki was mobilized to investigate the cause of the fire.

The Thessaloniki–Sindo section is a critical hub of the Northern Greece network, serving both intercity routes from Larisa and Athens as well as the Suburban service to Edessa and Larisa. Electric traction means that a fire near the line threatens not only the tracks but also the overhead catenary, which is why power shutoff is a standard precautionary measure. Similar incidents recur every summer at points where dry vegetation reaches the railway corridor.

For Thessaloniki and Delta Municipality, the significance extends beyond the burnt area. Sindo concentrates industrial facilities, educational institutions, and a significant number of commuters who depend on the Suburban service. An unscheduled four-hour disruption during Saturday peak traffic translates into missed connections, forced transfers to buses, and waiting in heat wave conditions. More incidents from this year’s fire season are documented in the topic section fires.

The cause remains open, a question to be answered by the Arson Investigation Unit’s inquiry; until then, no account can be considered confirmed. There is also a discrepancy in publications regarding train numbering: some republications report a different train number from 1598 as documented by the primary sources. The burnt area has not been officially announced, nor whether there were infrastructure damages beyond the precautionary power shutoff.

Traffic and electrification were restored at 19:35, and the fire had no active front that same evening, with forces remaining on site for vigilance and extinguishing hotspots. The next step involves findings from the Fire Service’s investigative authorities and whether liability will emerge. In parallel, the question of preventive vegetation clearing along the railway corridor is raised anew, a measure that resurfaces after every similar disruption episode.