India, March 24 -- A criminal trial opened in Greece on 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 ...