The Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) says an independent board of inquiry into the circumstances that led to the train accident that claimed nineteen lives in Kroonstad, in the Free State, will be established.
The Shosholoza Meyl train travelling from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg collided with a truck at a level crossing at Geneva station last week.
Preliminary investigations have failed to ascertain the cause of the accident. The safety regulator says the railway line was well equipped.
“When we looked at that railway crossing, we established that the railway line was equipped with boards on the other side of the level crossing. So, when we do the investigation we are of the view that the level of protection that was there matched the standard so there is no issue about the level crossing in Geneva. The speed at which the train was travelling was 78 which is within the speed limit that is allocated in the area and the driver of the truck tested negative when he was tested on alcohol,” says RSR Chairperson, Dr Nomusa Qunta.
Five coaches caught fire after the train derailed. The cause of the fire remains unclear.
The board of inquiry says although train collisions remain a cause for concern, the number of collisions has declined.
“Over the last couple of years, we have seen a decline in the total number of accidents. In the last financial year, we have got about 4 000 occurrences, but there are different categories to that and the ones that are most worrying is mainly collisions. Where we’ve had about one thousand,” says RSR Acting CEO Tshepo Kgore.
The regulator has now prohibited all manual authorisations for trains following Tuesday’s collision at Geldenhuys train station, east of Johannesburg.
Kgore says history has shown that manual authorisations are the main cause of collisions.
The regulator says Tuesday’s accident highlights a number of issues including supervision. It has acknowledged that Prasa has a systemic problem around communication due to cable theft, but it says this must be managed properly.
The regulator has also raised concerns about the safety of employees at train stations. This is after a rail guard was shot dead on Tuesday.
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