Prasa supports demand to ensure passenger, staff safety
THE Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) is in full support of the observation made by the United National Transport Union (Untu) that the agency was sitting on a “ticking time bomb”.
This as a result of unprecedented crime against passenger rail despite numerous efforts by Prasa to secure its service and protect its drivers and commuters, including its infrastructure.
To date, Prasa has experienced lengthy line closures of the Western Cape’s Central Line as a result of unheard of levels of vandalism specifically aimed at harvesting copper cables.
When Prasa was asked by employees to introduce protective measures, 88 private armed guards were introduced on the most affected line, the Western Cape’s Central Line, only to have the contractor attacked, resulting in the wounding of one of the guards by a group of armed men in an attempt to steal the guns and ammunition carried by the guards.
Prasa had also secured its electronic panels in locked cages to protect its infrastructure in the Western Cape, only to have it bombed and vandalised.
Untu is also correct in its assertion that Prasa cannot replace its signalling due to the rate of vandalism and the public demand for passenger rail services.
This combination of challenges leaves Prasa with no option but to rapidly replace stolen cables and restore the service rather than allowing for thorough investigations.
This results in Prasa having to apply for manual authorisation which, if it were not to be approved by the Rail Safety Regulator (RSR), approximately 2.6 million passenger trips across three provinces, with Gauteng alone accounting for 1.5 million passengers, would be affected.
Prasa’s primary legislative mandate, as contained in the Legal Succession Act of South African Transport Services Act of 1989 as amended in November 2008, is to provide commuter rail services.
As such, the issue of securing the service against crime on board its services is limited by the provision of financial resources to be invested in extra personnel, arming the personnel while operating trains and upgrading its infrastructure within the same budget allocation.
Untu is correct in raising the issue of hijackings, which is classified as a crime against the citizens which requires law enforcement intervention similar to the airport or Gautrain in where there is a combination of both Gautrain security and law enforcement agencies.
Prasa is continuing to engage with the Rapid Rail Police.
However, we observe that more needs to be done to support Prasa in protecting its assets, as well as suited legislation changes that allows for stronger sentences for rail-related crimes which have seen the rise in copper and steel theft in support of the ever-growing black market demand.
Crimes such as the stealing of rail clippers that anchor the rail tracks on the ground securely to the theft and bombing of electrical transformers and the unspeakable attacks on our staff will eventually leave Prasa with no choice but to cancel our services on dangerous corridors.
Prasa management is in full support of Untu and all our staff during this difficult period. Management further calls for stronger dialogue around the management of public transport crimes and the reporting of such crimes as part of the national statistics in order to bring this matter the necessary attention it deserves. Nana Zenani Prasa communications manager