It took just one week and a terrible, hydra-headed train disaster to transform Greece’s national mood to painfully bleak from unusually bright. Economic indicators were looking up, but now Greek stock prices are tumbling; the famous tourism season that was stirring back to life after a winter recess now looks less sure, and the whiff of a spirited spring election season has given way to growing public revulsion of politicians across the board.

Optimism was flung into an abrupt nosedive by the collision last Tuesday night of a passenger train speeding north of Athens with a freight train barreling down from the opposite direction, instantly killing dozens of university students on their way home after celebrating the first Greek Orthodox carnival without pandemic restrictions in three years.