Caxton News Service reports that the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) is operating on manual authorisation at various signals in Gauteng, in effect breaching the prohibition directive issued against it by the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) on 2 June.  

The RSR issued the directive against Prasa after an investigation into the crash between two Metrorail trains at the Elandsfontein Station on 1 June revealed that the two trains were manually authorised into a section at the same time.  Manual authorisation had been necessary because the signals were not working due to cable theft.  A commuter was killed and more than 50 others injured in the crash.  The United National Transport Union (Untu) asked the RSR if the directive was still applicable after its members complained they were instructed by their supervisors to drive on manual authorisation.  But, Prasa is apparently of the view that the directive is not enforceable while it is engaging with the RSR to find alternative solutions to the regulator’s concerns.

• Read this report in full at The Citizen

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