Train collisions slated

SAFETY: TRADE UNION RAISES CONCERNS OVER MANUAL SIGNALLING Vandalism, theft of rail infrastructure blamed for accidents.

The collision between a Passenger Rail Agency of SA’s (Prasa) Shosholoza Meyl train and a Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) goods train that left six people injured in the North West was avoidable, according United National Transport Union.

The trade union has revealed that according to reports from its members, the goods train failed on route next to the R502 in Leeudoringstad and that the driver had to unhook some of the wagons and take them to safety before returning to fetch the rest.

“It’s alleged that the train control office did not realise that there were still wagons on the route when the Shosholoza

Meyl train on route from Johannesburg to Cape Town was authorised to continue on the route. The Shosholoza Meyl train then crashed into the wagons,” said Sonja Carstens, the union’s spokeswoman.

Steve Harris, the union’s general secretary, said although the cause of the crash was yet to be established by the SA Rail Safety Regulator, they raised concerns about the manual authorisations of trains on this route.

He said in August the union’s executive council member, Scott de Koker, had sent a letter to Transnet’s chief executive, Portia Derby, and warned that Transnet’s management were not complying with train working rules.

In the letter, De Koker noted that Transnet management introduced “emergency working” on this and other routes, but it continued indefinitely, contrary to Train Working Rules.

“We have been struggling for a while now. If an employee gets involved in an accident, they are charged and punished as if the (train control office) was functional at 100%,” De Koker stated .

According to Harris, most train collisions over the past five years were due to manual authorisations because of vandalism and theft of the rail infrastructure. De Koker wrote another letter on 21 August, asking why the union was being ignored, to which Derby then allegedly instructed her managers to address the concerns, but they failed to deliver. The union has called for Prasa to be moved to the department of public enterprises, lamenting that there was a “brother and sister” relationship between the rail safety regulator (RSR) and Prasa, both reporting to Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.

“The RSR as the watchdog of rail safety has a responsibility to act against rail operators who continue using manual authorisations indefinitely. The RSR is failing in its duty,” Harris said.

Transnet spokeswoman Nompumelelo Kunene could not be reached for comment.

Rail Safety Regulator’s spokeswoman Madeleine Williams promised to respond but had not done so at time of going to press.

Train accidents have become common, with the crashes blamed on manual signalling.

In January last year, four commuters died and 620 others injured when two trains collided near Pretoria’s Mountain View train station.

In October last year, a train with 100 loaded coal wagons collided with a stationary train carrying 89 empty wagons in the Matlabas crossing in Thabazimbi and Lephalale in Limpopo.

One person was killed and five others hospitalised after a passenger train collided with a stationary goods locomotive near the Horizon View station in Johannesburg in February.

If employees are involved in an accident, they are charged