Commuters tell of horror crash in Kempton
Zandi Sithole
Commuters on one of the trains involved in a collision on Thursday evening saw the accident coming and jumped from the moving train, Kempton Express reports.
The collision at Van Riebeeck Park Railway station injured 320 people, 32 seriously. There were no fatalities.
Shocked commuters on the scene told Kempton Express their train had been stationary at the station since around 5pm due to mechanical issues.
“We were stuck for a long time. After about 20 minutes some of the impatient commuters went to the train driver and asked him why there was such a long delay,” said one commuter, who did not want to be named.
The driver apparently told the commuters he was trying to call people from Metrorail and Prasa to come and resolve the issue because there was no way the train could move.
“We heard an oncoming train hooting long before the crash.
“People who were hanging from the doors of the moving train saw there was going to be a crash and jumped, screaming, out of the moving train before the impact.”
Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services spokesperson William Ntladi said: “Emergency services of Ekurhuleni received a call at about 5.50pm about the crash.
“On arrival, we found that two Metrorail passenger trains were involved in a [collision].
“We started with our on-scene investigations and had various medical services on site [who] helped with patient assessment, treatment and transportation to various hospitals around Ekurhuleni.”
A board of inquiry will be instituted to determine the cause of the collision, according to Gauteng Metrorail spokesperson Lillian Mofokeng.
“[Passenger Rail Agency of SA] will be working closely with all authorities.
“The cost of the accident is still unknown at this stage.” – Caxton News Service Citizen.
“However, all other summonses which are issued are being defended.
“An attorney told me he defended a matter on behalf of his client and nothing was happening, so I think Sanral is issuing summonses left, right and centre with the hope some people will feel intimidated and cough up and pay.”
Heyneke noted compliance was still low.
“In the past two months – July and August 2018 – a total of 4 055 summonses were drafted, which was 67% of the summonses since January 2018 and 26% of all summonses since April 2015,” Heyneke said.
“However, most of these summonses are not actually served on the defendants.
“In July and August, only 345 summonses were actually served on defaulters.”
Heyneke said: “If one unpacks these figures, one can only assume the real beneficiaries of the exorbitant effort of summonsing 15 505 e-toll defaulters are the collection agency’s lawyers, Durban-based Morris Fuller Williams Attorneys.”
Some of the reasons given for not serving summonses were “address insufficient”, “debtor unknown at given address”, “debtor left given address” or “premises locked”, according to the parliamentary reply.
The collection of e-tolls is run by Electronic Toll Collections (ETC), which is contracted by Sanral. ETC’s five-year collection contract started on December 3, 2013 and is due to expire in December.
“If a summons was not served on a defaulter within a three-year limit, those debts cannot be collected,” said Heyneke.