Sowetan reports that human error could be behind the head-on collision of two Metrorail trains that left 112 people injured in Selby, southern Johannesburg on Tuesday morning but there are fears that more train accidents may occur.
Transport unions the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and United National Transport Union (Untu) have warned that poor Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) infrastructure and the continued use of manual train authorisations could lead to more accidents.
The accident, which occurred when trains were manually authorised, came just three days after the Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) renewed Prasa’s safety permit for 12 months, but “with special conditions”.
RSR spokesperson Madelein Williams said the special conditions included a plan detailing how Prasa would deal with manual train authorisations, which led to Tuesday’s accident.
“We are concerned about the manual train authorisations so we asked them to give us a plan on how Prasa would deal with them,” Williams said.
“Other special conditions included the urgent filling of vacancies for critical positions and how Prasa would roll out its maintenance plan.”
She said they hoped to have a report with preliminary findings today as their investigators went to the scene of the accident to gather information.
Satawu spokesperson Zanele Sabela said Prasa infrastructure was “aging and needed urgent modernisation”.
“Whenever there’s such crashes Prasa has ready excuses of human error or cable theft and what they don’t mention is that there’s a problem with their old, aging infrastructure,” Sabela said.
Untu has warned that Prasa was a disaster waiting to happen.
“Prasa is a ticking time bomb operating death machines due to its inability to combat crime and vandalism, [and] its inability to do proper [maintenance,” said Untu’s Steve Harris.
Metrorail spokesperson Lillian Mofokeng said one train was travelling from Faraday station towards New Canada, while the other was coming from Naledi, Soweto.
The trains were being operated manually because of a signalling upgrade.
Mofokeng said the most serious commuter injuries were back injuries and that four Metrorail staff were assessed for injuries and will receive counselling. She said the cause of the accident was being investigated.
The original of this report by Isaac Mahlangu and Karabo Ledwaba appeared on page 8 of Sowetan of 5 September 2018
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