Blame for Gautrain accident put at operator’s door

The Gautrain operating company has been accused of risking the lives of workers after a train without brakes crashed into a workshop – killing one person and seriously injuring two others.

A month ago, the train with two occupants was being shunted into a train workshop after it had broken down near Midrand following a power failure on the mainline.

The driver of the shunting vehicle was killed instantly in the incident on February 7 and the train coach and shunter were both severely damaged.

Sowetan has established that the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) found that a train driver and a technician were placed in danger by being made to travel in a train without brakes as it was being shunted into a workshop near Woodmead, Johannesburg.

An RSR preliminary report into the accident, which Sowetan has seen, indicated “the train driver and technician were therefore placed in danger needlessly”.

Gautrain spokeswoman Kesagee Nayager said another inquiry was “currently under way to determine the root cause of the incident”.

The safety regulator’s report, however, indicated that the Bombela Operating Company “had failed to organise a car to fetch the train driver and technician” from where the train had broken down, forcing them to travel in a train with disabled brakes.

“The train driver and technician were permitted to travel in the train even though their presence in the train was not necessary for the train process,” the report stated.

The driver of the shunting vehicle, according to the report, was killed instantly after the wheels of his vehicle derailed and he lost control.

A train driver and technician were taken to hospital with “critical injuries”.

RSR spokeswoman Madelein Williams confirmed that the train lost control while “being shunted from the mainline into the yard”.

“This resulted in the shunting vehicle derailing. The train continued to run into the workshop uncontrolled,” said Williams.

Another inquiry is currently under way to establish root cause of the incident

Kesagee Nayager GAUTRAIN SPOKESPERSON