Walk-in centre to assist Pretoria train crash victims

A walk-in centre is to be set up at Pretoria station for commuters who were involved in a horrific train accident on Tuesday, reports Pretoria Moot Rekord.

The centre is offering assistance and support with effect from Thursday, January 10 2019, following the train collision at Mountain View station which led to the line between the station and Pretoria North being closed to allow technical teams to affect repair work.

The damage was estimated at R21 million, inclusive of the train coaches and the infrastructure, Metrorail said on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: Nzimande blames cable theft for Pretoria train crash

Three people were killed and hundreds injured when two trains collided on Tuesday morning.

Spokesperson Lillian Mofokeng said railway management had analysed the number of train commuters who had already bought weekly and monthly train tickets.

An interim train service has been made available for commuters on the 30 available contracted buses, and will provide the following:

– Shuttle trains from Mabopane and De Wildt at Pretoria North station.

– A bus service between Pretoria North and Hercules stations.

– Shuttle trains from Pretoria station towards the northern parts of Pretoria terminate at Hercules station.

– A shuttle train service to operate between Belle Ombre and Hercules.

Mofokeng said only commuters with valid monthly and weekly train tickets would be accommodated and no new train tickets on the affected corridors would be sold until the lines reopened.

Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga said the fatal collision was a result of vandalism and cable theft.

The city was saddened by the loss of life and injuries.

“It is a sad day in the city of Tshwane after two trains collided, resulting in three fatalities and 604 passenger injuries,” Msimanga said.

He said the emergency services’ preliminary investigations revealed that one of the two trains was waiting for a signal to proceed when a secondary train came from behind and crashed into it.

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