Get our train network on track

WE JOIN the rest of the country this weekend in mourning the deaths of the 18 people who perished in the train crash outside Kroonstad on Thursday morning.

At the time of writing, at least a further 180 people have been treated for various injuries. No one knows how the accident happened; all that we do know is that a train belonging to the Passenger Train Association of South Africa ploughed into a truck on a level crossing.

The simplest thing in the world is to speculate – and Prasa leaves itself wide open for the worst kind of speculation. It is a state-owned enterprise that has not only been allowed to be woefully run down, it has also been appallingly managed in recent years, and one of the key SOEs fingered in state capture where tenders have gone to individuals by virtue of their political relationships rather than technical expertise.

The most egregious example of mismanagement has to be the purchase of Spanish locomotives at a considerable cost – which were too big to go under the bridges that are a feature of our railway system, indeed any railway system anywhere in the world.

In a country with such a parlous public transport system, the train network that we still have is critically important. Given the volumes of people who travel by train every day, there have been remarkably few fatal incidents.

This, though, is scant comfort for those who have lost loved ones.We need a full investigation into what happened, and we need it to be done without fear or favour, because we need to use this to ensure that no one else is in danger of death or bodily harm when they use the train network.

And, if this tragedy was down to human error and could have been avoided through proper management systems, then everyone who is culpable must be brought to book.