The Minister of Transport, Mr Joe Maswanganyi, directed the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) to expedite the investigation into the cause of the Metro Rail train collision that took place near the Elandsfontein station today, Thursday, 01 June 2017.
Two of the Metro Rail trains collided, one heading to Johannesburg and the other an empty coach in the yard heading to Thembisa. One person has been declared dead and hundred and two (102) injured passengers have been discharged from various hospitals and two (2) are still receiving medical attention in hospital.
Minister Maswanganyi condemns in the strongest term the theft of the signaling cable which preliminary investigations confirms as the cause of the collision. “We appeal to members of the public to work with law enforcement agencies to share any information that might lead to the arrest of these who caused this unfortunate crash.
Furthermore, Minister Maswanganyi apologised for the inconveniences that might have been caused by this unfortunate incident.
To deal with inconveniences of the collision, the following interim arrangements have been commissioned:
- Trains from Pretoria are turning at Kaalfontein,
- Buses are utilised between Kaalfontein and Germiston;
- From Johannesburg, trains are turning at Germiston and
- A shuttle train service is currently running between Leralla and Kaalfontein.
Minister Maswanganyi further said that Prasa has taken immediate measures to improve safety and reliability of our trains and will continuously do so to ensure that incidences such as these become a thing of the past.
Minister Maswanganyi passes his heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased passenger and wishes all the injured a speedy recovery.
Enquiries:
Ishmael Mnisi
Cell: 072 566 0827
