Prasa defies rail safety warnings
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa is defying the safety regulator by continuing to operate rail signals by hand, claiming the service will collapse otherwise.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) is defying the national rail safety regulator by continuing to operate rail signals by hand at various places throughout Gauteng.
It argues that its rail service will collapse if it cannot use hand control of signals in emergencies such as when electricity cables are stolen.
Earlier this month, the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) issued a “prohibition directive” against Prasa, forbidding it to use manual signalling methods in cases where the electronic systems had failed.
This followed a fatal train crash at the beginning of June. Two Metrorail trains collided at Elandsfontein station on June 1, after both were manually cleared on to the same section of track. A commuter was killed and more than 50 were injured.
The Railway Safety Regulator directive was issued after it investigated the crash, which was an indirect result of the theft of electricity cables to the main signalling system.
The RSR found that the incident occurred because of poor management and unsafe execution of the manual authorisation process.
Steve Harris, general secretary of the United National Transport Union (Untu), said the union had asked the RSR if the directive was still applicable, because Untu members complained they were instructed by their supervisors to drive on manual authorisation.
“Prasa feels that the directive is not enforceable while the passenger rail service is engaging with the RSR to find alternative solutions to the regulator’s concerns.
“The state-owned enterprise is of the belief that it will bring its services to a halt if Prasa is forced to comply with the directive,” said Harris.
Madelein Williams, general manager of media and communication at the RSR, confirmed to Untu that the directive “remains in force until Prasa has addressed the safety risks identified by the RSR”.
Harris said: “This creates a legal question of who would be held accountable for culpable homicide if someone dies in an accident today after a manual authorisation.
“Is it the Railway Safety Regulator, who is not ensuring that Prasa comply with its directive, or is it Prasa who is ignoring the directive?”
The RSR directive, issued in terms of the National Railway Safety Regulator Act, said: “The operator is, therefore, directed to immediately cease operating trains in the Prasa Gauteng region under abnormal working conditions. Trains will be operated only when normal operating conditions have been restored.”
Failure to comply with the directive is an offence in terms of the Act and could result in a criminal charge.
Harris said the Railway Safety Regulator claims it is committed to ensuring that safety is the underpinning principle on railway operations at all times. – Caxton News Service