‘Not only Prasa to blame for loss of coaches’

THE Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) is partly to blame for the shocking loss of 1 388 train coaches due to vandalism – but blame should also be apportioned elsewhere, the United National Transport Union (Untu) said.

Prasa lost these train coaches in the past three financial years‚ costing more than R503-million.

This was revealed in response to parliamentary questions by the DA.

Metrorail lost 823 and Shosholoza Meyl 565 train coaches over the three-year period amid a 31% drop in security personnel.

Untu spokeswoman Sonja Carstens said‚ however‚ that the DA should blame all the culprits and not focus merely on one.

Carstens said the government failed Prasa by not creating a sustainable economic environment.

“The majority of Untu’s members had to cope with three transport ministers in two years‚ three Prasa boards in two years and three Prasa acting group chief executives, who each submitted a comprehensive turnaround strategy to parliament’s portfolio committee on transport,” she said.

Untu said earlier this month that crime syndicates steal cables.

“Where has the crime intelligence division of the South African Police Service been in assisting Prasa with combating this crime?” Carstens said.

Drivers and other Prasa employees regularly come under attack.

A woman train driver was hit on the head with a brick‚ stripped and dragged to bushes after a train was vandalised at the Eerste Fabrieke Station in Pretoria on March 13.

A further 10 Prasa employees were also attacked during the incident.

Carstens said at the time that Prasa was sitting on a ticking time bomb because trains were being robbed or hijacked every week.