Address at the Rail Safety Regulator at the Koelenhof Level-Crossing Public Awareness Safety Campaign by Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga, MP, Deputy Minister of Transport

Programme Director:
Railway Safety Regulator Board Members
Railway Safety Regulator CEO: Mr. Nkululeko Poya
Officials from the Department of Transport
Officials from the Railway Safety Regulator
PRASA Rail Western Cape Regional Manager
Western Cape Provincial Representatives
Representatives from the Cape Winelands District Municipality
Representatives from Stellenbosch Municipality
Ward Councillors
Rail Industry Stakeholders
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen.

On Friday during our very own philanthropist and a journalist of stature, Mr Vuyo Mbuli’s send-off service, the honourable Mr Jeff Hadebe noted a silent killer that has robbed our country of many lives, that is the pulmonary embolism which is a medical condition where a clot that lodges in the heart hinders the heart’s functioning and most often than not leading to the sudden loss of life. My being here today is symbolic of that very fact, where railway accidents have assumed the same status of being silent killers in this country.

When a person is struck by train nobody notices, when two or three people die in passenger or goods trains accidents at level crossings nobody says anything. It is unacceptable that communities only start taking notice when a sizeable number of our people are involved in these unnecessary and avoidable accidents such as the known Hectorspruit Level Crossing train-bakkie accident which led to the death of 25 people. And the Cor-Delfos – Kalafong accident which led to 300 people being injured.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It cannot be acceptable by any standards that the status quo of silence continues while we lose our children who had a bright future ahead as leaders, scientists, teachers, medical practitioners, engineers. It cannot be correct that we keep uncommunicative when we lose economically viable persons who are bread winners at home and active members in their respective communities. It is time that we each ask what can each of us do for this country to curb this silent killer. Time for action is now, we must all unite our efforts, obey that railway safety rules and reduce these needless accidents.

The Department of Transport and its entities have a mandate, to provide world class transport infrastructure that is safe, secure, reliable and affordable. In an endeavour to fulfil the mandate of providing safety in the rail sector, the department of Transport established a Rail Safety Agency called the Rail Safety Regulator (RSR), whose core mandate is to:

  • oversee safety in railway transport, while operators remain responsible for managing safety of their operations;
  • develop an appropriate regulatory framework through the development of regulations and standards for safe railway operations;
  • monitor and ensure safety compliance through the conducting of audits, inspections, safety assessments and occurrence investigations;
  • collect and disseminate information relating to safe railway operations
  • promote the harmonization of the railway safety regime of South Africa with Southern African Development Community (SADC) railway operations;
  • promote improved safety performance in order to promote the use of rail. and
  • oversee the safety of rail transport; promote improved safety performance in order to promote the use of rail; and to monitor and ensure compliance with the RSR Act.

In pursuance of this mandate, the RSR has, in collaboration with the railway industry and the SABS developed a series of standards to ensure that a common and consistent approach to railway safety in areas such as safety management, technical and operational requirements as well as human factors management are adhered to.

Key to the successful regeneration of the railway system in South Africa, and indeed the sub-region, is the interoperability of the railways.

This implies consistent standards and common usage of technology where railway infrastructure is used by more than one operator. To this end, the RSR and the railway industry have and continue to collaborate in developing the overarching broad technical and operating standards.

The need for harmonization of safety standards within the SADC region is of strategic importance.

The RSR is actively facilitating efforts to adopt and align the current railway safety standards by regional railway operators through the Southern African Railway Association.

In addition, I am pleased that the Southern African Railway Association (SARA) Board has adopted the safety management system as a framework to guide safety management practices by operators' in the region. I wish to commend SARA and the RSR for the sterling work in this regard.

Rail accident statistics 2011/12 - 2012/13

During the year under review there was a reduction of 11% on all derailments and this contributed to the reduction in overall rail occurrence costs for Transnet Freight Rail (TFR).

Level crossings incidents generally result in serious collisions due to the impact of the train on the road vehicles.

Even though the number of these collisions accounts for a very small percentage of the overall incidents within the rail network, the number of fatalities as a result of such an incident in very high. As a result of this RSR has focused of these incidents and we saw during the year under review a 26,6% reduction in collisions between trains and road vehicles at Level Crossings.

Nationally RSR recorded 123 occurrences / accidents in 2011/12 with 10 fatalities and 40 Injuries. 91 occurrences were recorded nationally for the year In 2012/13. The RSR recorded 17 level-crossing incidents on the 2011/12 State of Safety Report in the Western Cape with 2 fatalities and 6 injuries. The preliminary results in 2012/13 financial year are that there are 20 occurrences with no fatalities and 13 Injuries.

The industry experienced 2 375 injuries and 425 fatalities as a result of both operations and security incidents. There was also a 21% increase and 10,6% increase in malicious damage (vandalism) and rolling stock fires respectively.

This is of great concern to the to the Department of Transport and RSR as this increases delays in running of service by operators and contributes to the overall overcrowding of the passenger rail system during peak hours.

Our presence here today is to resonate RSR’s efforts to promote public-awareness on railway safety.

The Koelenhof Level-Crossing is on the PRASA line and has recorded a high number of incidents in the past 3-10 years. As a direct ramification of this, PRASA has identified it as one of the crossings that will be eliminated in the near future.

Transporting people and goods safely on our railways is a priority of government to enhance social and economic activities to be carried out. Incidents that have been recorded at this crossing are mainly attributable to motorists’ behaviour and this often happens during the off-peak period.

Due to the fact that only one train passes in a space of time people more often than not, end up disregarding and neglect adhering to level crossings rules and regulations.

RSR intervention: development of level crossing standard and public awareness campaign – “Always Expect a Train’’

As part of interventions to mitigate these kinds of incidents, the RSR developed the Level Crossing Standard and continues to conduct information sessions nationally on all operators. These sessions strive to facilitate and guide operators on the effective implementation of the standard to promote rail safety.

Given the increasing trend in level-crossing incidents over the years, the RSR has determined that a proactive, holistic and integrated approach to rail safety is needed.

This approach requires the involvement of all rail stakeholders which includes the Department of Transport, rail operators and the general public. Level-crossings are safety sensitive zones where road and rail interface with the public and laws governing such areas should be respected.

The Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) published the Level Crossing Standard SANS 3000-2-1 on 12 April 2012. Subsequent to this, a Guidance Notice was published for all operators to refer to it for guidance.

The proposal for the incorporation of the Level Crossing Standard SANS 3000-2-1 into the National Road Traffic Act 1996 was approved by the Legislation Technical Committee on 26 March 2013. This will make compliance mandatory for the road authorities with regards to the management of level crossings.

Distinguished guests, I must say that the incorporation of the Level-Crossing Standard, SANS 3000 – 2-1, into the National Road Traffic Act of 1996 has made provision for road authorities and municipalities to enforce and ensure safety compliance at the road-rail interface.

To this effect, the Department of Transport has a vital role to play in effecting these new provisions by facilitating synergy and collaboration between road and rail transport sectors.

This development is an outstanding confirmation of the government's commitment to the safety and security of our transport system. Transport is indeed "the heartbeat of South Africa's economic growth and social development", and therefore safety in all modes of transport is a key priority for government. It is in this regard that we have established institutions that regulate safety in all modes of transport, for example, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) in maritime transport, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in aviation, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) in road traffic and the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) in rail transport.

These institutions serve to advance our strategic objective of ensuring safety and security of our transport system which in turn, serve to enhance the productive capacity of the economy.

Huge numbers of commuters use railway transport as their preferred mode of transport on a daily basis, largely because of the low fares and frequency of train services. Likewise millions of tons of goods that oil the wheels of our economy are hauled over our rail systems every year. And thus our railway system is kept alive and vibrant. It was therefore in keeping with the spirit and letter of our Constitution and in line with government's commitment to keep the railways safe and secure.

It is for this particular reason that the RSR has seen it fit to initiate a public – awareness safety campaign at the Koelenhof level-crossing. Rail safety perceptions, attitudes and behaviours need to be influenced for positive change to occur. The public members are made aware of their roles and responsibilities in ensuring safe rail operations at level crossings and that they are accountable for unsafe actions and behaviours.

The Level Crossing campaign comprises two slogans: “Always expect a train”, and “Where there is a track, there is a train”. These will be used for the roll-out of a broad public outreach and educational activities to foster safe behaviour and safe communities.

The messages emphasise that a train could be using the railroad tracks at any time and that both pedestrians and drivers should always approach them with caution. The RSR would like to urge drivers and pedestrians to follow all regulations regarding level-crossings and railroad safety, as not adhering to these could lead to severe injuries or a devastating loss of life as we have experienced in the past.

Programme Director, today, significantly marks another milestone in our unwavering commitment to improving safety in our transport system. Safety is the cornerstone of operational efficiency in the railway industry and we must continue to put in place building blocks that will ensure that our interventions in this regards are not only sustainable, but deliver tangible results and directly lead to reduction of transport costs. Railway safety standards are an important driver in ensuring that safety performance in our railways is sustainable.

As RSR strengthens its safety regulatory oversight role, the assessment of the overall safety performance of the railway industry is crucial in identifying areas requiring urgent intervention as well as assessing the impact of the work of the RSR. In this regard, the State of Railway Safety reports will continue to provide the RSR, the Department of Transport and the railway industry at large with the necessary information to assess safety performance in railways.

Whilst the RSR has reported notable improvement in some reportable railway occurrence categories, urgent interventions are however required to improve safety in the critical occurrence categories such as derailments, collisions, train-platform occurrences, level crossings and security related incidences such as vandalism and theft of operational assets.

It has been established that one of the major contributory factors in accidents has been human error.

I am encouraged and delighted to note that the RSR, together with the industry, is addressing this matter through the development of Human Factors Management standards that focus particularly on safety critical positions such as train drivers and train control officers. This also addresses occupational health and safety issues that have a direct impact on operational safety.

We are paying particular attention to the safety concerns being experienced by the RSR and the department wishes to implore operators to ensure that they put in place corrective measures in order to comply with directives issued by the RSR to improve safety.

I am pleased to note great efforts aimed at improving safety in our railways by major operators such as Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) following the implementation of Safety Management Systems and major investments in rail infrastructure and rolling stock.

The collective activities of the RSR and the railway operators must be calculated to achieve the rail safety objective. Over the past years, the RSR has placed a lot of emphasis in auditing the operator's safety management systems, as these provide a sound basis for effective management of safety in the railway environment.

In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, I want to express my gratitude to the RSR, and PRASA and the entire rail industry to have gone this far in working together to enable the strength in the rail industry and the development of the relevant safety standards aimed to reduce level-crossing incidents. Working together moving forward we can achieve victory in reducing railway accidents.

I thank you.

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