Press Statement dated 4 September 2018
The manual authorisation of two trains seems to be the cause behind the latest train collision, where two Metrorail trains carrying passengers, collided at the Eloff extension in Selby Johannesburg this morning.
One train wagon derailed. More than 112 commuters and the train crew injured.
Steve Harris, General Secretary of the United National Transport Union (UNTU), says the one train was coming from Booysens Station and the other train from Faraday Station. Both trains were manually authorised to be on the route.
This latest unfortunate incident comes a few days after UNTU stated that the Union is disturbed by the decision of the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) to grant the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) a one-year safety permit to operate the country’s trains until 31 July 2019.
“Prasa’s, the operator of Metrorail’s trains, safety permit would have lapsed at midnight at 31 August 2018. UNTU’s repeated warnings that Prasa is a ticking time bomb operating death machines due to its inability to combat crime and vandalism, its inability to do proper maintenance and its inability to procure spares has so far fell on deaf ears.
“The poorest of the poor, the commuters using these trains, should know that more that 50% of Prasa’s trains nationwide operate on manual train authorisations (MTA’s) because the signalling systems are not working,” says Steve Harris, General Secretary of UNTU.
When trains are manually authorised to continue a route, they are more exposed to human error as what happened this morning when the two trains collided on the same route, says Harris.
MTA’s were also the cause of the Elandsfontein train accident on 1 June 2017 during which one commuter died and 55 were injured when two trains collided.
“MTA’s were also to blame for the Geldenhuys train accident on 9 January 2018 when two trains collided leaving more than 200 commuters injured.
“Enough is enough. The RSR and Prasa is liable and must be held accountable by Government for their reckless behaviour with the lives of train crews and commuters,” says Harris.
Dennis George, General Secretary of UNTU’s affiliated federation, the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) says the federation is very disappointed that Government allowed the RSR to grant PRASA a safety permit for another year well-knowing the condition of PRASA’s trains and infrastructure.
Last week the permit was issued after three life threatening train incidents on two routes in the Durban area.
“The RSR itself stated that the progress made by PRASA with the implementation of the special conditions over the past two years is dismal as it relates to critical aspects of its safety management system,” says Harris.
UNTU has instructed all our members to provide the Union with detailed safety related evidence to draw up a comprehensive national time-line of safety related incidents to prove to the RSR and the Courts that PRASA is unable to run a safe service.
Issued on behalf of United National Transport Union (UNTU) by Sonja Carstens, Media and Liaison Officer