Union anger at lack of commitment to win railway crime war

THE Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) needs to declare war on criminals to combat the war on its trains, platforms, employees and commuters.

“It’s time that all stakeholders, especially the government and the SAPS, realise that to win the war against vandalism on our passenger trains in the Western Cape, we need to fight war with war,” said Steve Harris, general secretary of the United National Transport Union (Untu).

Untu is furious after another member, this time a female train driver, was robbed with a knife to her throat of all her belongings by three robbers while on duty at the busy Bellville Station on Saturday night.

There were no police on duty when the incident occurred.

Earlier on Saturday morning, Metrorail had to suspend all train services in the region to permit urgent repair work on its trains after vandals did extensive damage to them in the early hours. Transnet Freight Rail cables were also stolen.

Harris had to intervene on Saturday night after it was brought to his attention that Prasa left its train crews stranded on the trains without food or water when services came to a halt. One of these employees was a pregnant lady who had nothing to eat or drink for three hours.

“This goes beyond the responsibility of any state-owned enterprise (SOE). Neither Prasa nor Transnet has the financial means to combat this constant incidence of cable theft alone,” said Harris.

“Why aren’t the police establishing a task team to focus on the severe deterioration of railway safety?”

He believes the government has neglected to recognise the impact of every delayed train on the economy at large.

“Trains carry commuters to and from work. Commuters are tax-paying citizens. If they continue to arrive late at work due to the constantly delayed trains, they will lose their jobs and become a liability to the state,” said Harris.

This comes after Prasa admitted in an internal report last week that its service offering is at an all-time low of only 40 percent after 375 coaches were vandalised in the first six months of this financial year.

There are only 248 train sets provided each day instead of the required 287 sets because 1 827 coaches are not in service.

There was an increase in security incidents on assets by 16 percent year on year and incidents involving passengers showed an increase in 53 percent in the first six months of 2016/2017.

“This critical situation if not attended to urgently, will result in the collapse of Prasa,” the report states.

“There’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Last week, regional manager Richard Walker announced in a press statement that Metrorail had beefed up security ahead of the festive season. Hours later, two Untu members, both security guards from Insingizi, were robbed of their firearms and cellphones. This is ridiculous,” said Harris.

Untu warned in October that it would be a waste of time to try and increase train safety unless all roleplayers involved in the industry joined forces to implement it.

“It’s been two months since myself and two other union officials met with the special adviser to Minister Dipuo Peters to raise crucial security issues at Prasa with her, only to learn three weeks later that the management of the passenger railway operator does not even bother to respond to its minister. This can easily be addressed if Prasa management were held accountable if employees got injured,” said Harris. Sonja Carstens Media and Liaison Officer, Untu