Picture: Michel Bega
While clean-up operations continue at the West Rand’s Horison View railway station – scene of Wednesday evening’s train crash that claimed the life of one passenger, and injured four others – the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) refused to be drawn into assertions made by trade union UNTU, which blamed the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) for granting the rail agency a safety permit.
RSR spokesperson Madeleine Williams was also not available to respond to UNTU’s charges that the accident could have been averted, had the regulator stuck to its guns in refusing to grant Prasa a safety permit.
The crash of Prasa’s passenger Premier Classe train with a stationary Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) train, bring the number of rail collisions to two in as many weeks, following the extension by the RSR of Prasa’s safety operating permit.
With a reputation for a poor safety record, ranging from brakes failure to signalling hitches, Prasa received a temporary respite from the RSR in 2018 when its safety permit was reinstated after being revoked for non-compliance with safety requirements.
Reacting to the latest incident, UNTU general secretary Steve Harris, said the union questioned the competence of the RSR as an independent watchdog body over rail safety, with an obligation to ensure compliance with rail safety regulations in South Africa.
UNTU called on transport minister Fikile Mbalula to “dissolve the RSR board”, currently appointed on a month-to-month basis, after the expiry of contacts last October. He argued that: “To date, the RSR has taken no accountability or made an attempt to approach the Gauteng North High Court to review its two court orders, because of Prasa’s inability to adhere to rail safety previsions.
“The RSR has no teeth and cannot be compared to other watchdog institutions like the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). If SACAA grounds an airline, it remains grounded until it is declared safe to start operating again. The RSR on the other hand, simply turns a blind eye.”
He described the rail infrastructure, jointly used by Prasa and the TFR as being “in the worst state ever” due to being plundered by criminals.
“In January the RSR extended Prasa’s safety operating permit for another three months, while being aware of the challenges the state-owned enterprise faced, due to the vandalism,” added Harris.
Prasa and the RSR are due to appear before Gauteng North High Court Judge Cassim Sardiwalla later this month, for a safety compliance final assessment.
In the past two years, Sardiwalla issued two court orders for Prasa to comply with safety regulations before continuing operations, with the RSR required to monitor and evaluate implementation. Both parties were ordered to submit monthly reports to the judge.
Clean-up crews comb through and attend to the wreckage of two trains, 13 February 2020, in Horizon View, Roodepoort, after a Premier Classe passenger train collided with a stationary goods train last night. One person died in the incident. The trains collided at around 9pm. Picture: Michel Bega
Prasa spokesperson Nana Zenani referred safety compliance inquiries to the RSR, which was not available to comment.
She could not say how long the investigation to determine the cause of the accident, which led to Metrorail services being affected along the Randfontein-Johannesburg rail lines, would take. “Preliminary reports regarding injuries are that approximately four passengers have been injured and taken to a Krugersdorp hospital. One passenger was airlifted to the Milpark Hospital and there was one unfortunate fatality.
“Mainline passenger service teams are at the accident scene with investigation under way to establish the cause of the accident,” said Zenani.
Transport ministry spokesperson Ayanda Allie Paine, said Mbalula has called for a full investigation into the cause of a train collision.
He joined Prasa and UNTU in sending condolence messages to the bereaved family, wishing the injured a full recovery.
The accident comes barely a week after The Citizen reported that a multibillion-rand state-of-the-art electronic train signalling system is “gathering dust” at Prasa’s signalling nerve centre in Gauteng, while the country’s passenger trains continued to depend on a cumbersome manual signalling system. This system has led to several crashes in the past.
Prasa last week had to submit a plan to the RSR on how it would permanently address the lack of brakes for trains in its Braamfontein depot, which has resulted in technicians allegedly using worn out brakes salvaged from bins as replacements. The regulator confirmed receipt of Prasa’s corrective plan and that an investigation was launched “on the brakes of trainsets to ensure that it complies to the requirements and are safe to use”.
They did not respond to requests for comment on what the plan entails, and it emerged that the the electronic signalling system was not in use was due to issues with interfacing it with the manual system. This resulted in a drop in safety standards and has led to the RSR authorisation of the cumbersome manual signalling system, which requires drivers to phone for authorisation to use crossings.
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