Transport Minister Blade Nzimande visited Mountain View train station in Pretoria West where two trains collided leaving three people dead and over 600 injured.
He says a preliminary investigation indicates that the cause of the collision is cable theft.
It caused the signal system to start operating manually. Nzimande is demanding accountability.
He says: “People who are playing particular roles in their responsibilites must account, including security. You know in this country we have these problems because we have no accountability. We’ve got state owned companies being looted, being skinned and these are the products of it. The people who are suffering is the ordinary working class people who are getting killed and injured.”
Meanwhile, Metrorail says due to the rainy conditions experienced Tuesday night, it was unable to clear the crash scene.
Metrorail says however, there will be train services between Mabopane and Ga-Rankuwa stations which will terminate at the Pretoria North station.
Commuters will then be shuttled to the Hercules station in buses.
Metrorail spokesperson Lilian Mofokeng says it could manage to acquire enough buses to cater to those who are already in possession of valid weekly and monthly tickets.
She says: “We appeal to commuters that are not in possession of any valid train ticket in the specific corridor not to come to our station because there’ll be no ticket sales. The provision we are making is for those who are already in possession of valid tickets. We apologise for any convenience that this might cause.”
