Address by the Deputy Minister of Transport, Honourable Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, MP at the Railway Safety Regulator’s inspection of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s Wolmerton Depot on Wednesday
Chairperson of the RSR Board of Directors, Mr Boy Johannes Nobunga Members of the RSR Board of Directors.
Chairperson of the PRASA Board of Control, Mr Leonard Ramatlakane Members of the PRASA Board of Control.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Railway Safety Regulator, Mr Mmuso Selaledi Senior Officials from the RSR, National Department of Transport and PRASA Members of the media.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a novel and refreshing experience for me to address you this morning without any train accident. It is notable that the names of major railway accidents in South Africa are engraved in the public memory. While travel by rail is among the safest of all forms of transport, it is a regrettable fact that railway accidents do happen and when they do the loss of life can be significant.
As a mother, it pains me to see children being orphaned because of train accidents. Normally when an accident happens, we ask the following question: “What went wrong?” And we answer: “Maybe the technical operation of the train should have made the train accident impossible or maybe the Driver or the Traffic Control Officer was wrong.”
It is good to ask ‘what went wrong’ question as the public. It is for this reason the government thought it prudent to establish the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) in terms of the National Railway Safety Regulator Act 16 0f 2002 as amended (The Act) to oversee safety in South Africa.
In executing its legislative mandate, the RSR performs the following functions:
- Issues and manages safety permits; conducts inspections and audits; and investigates railway occurrences.
- Develops regulations, safety standards, and related documents which form the basis of the regulatory regime.
- Issues notices of non-conformance and non-compliance and imposes penalties for non-compliance.
- Conducts research.
- Provides a support function in addressing occupational health and safety, and security issues in the rail environment.
- Cooperates with relevant organs of State as well as its stakeholders to improve safety performance and oversight functions.
Ladies and gentlemen,
There is a general agreement among us that we should take vigorous action in the matter of railway safety during the COVID-19 pandemic which was sprung on us unexpectedly. The only question on which we are not agreed is what form this action should take. To answer the question, today we decided to be proactive by conducting this inspection without apportioning blame to the operator.
The purpose of the inspection is to:
- Assess the condition of the depot against scheduled and unscheduled maintenance activities that embark on keep PRASA trains, coaches, and motor coaches available and reliable for safe train operations.
- Assess the condition of workshops (scheduled maintenance and lifting workshops), and material store. Assess the condition of the listing equipment in the workshops, lighting in the workshops, availability of spares in the store and availability of rotables in the holding areas. Engage the depot on stopped rolling staged outside the workshops and get reasons for the stoppage.
- To verify adherence of PRASA personnel to the set standards and procedures when performing these scheduled and unscheduled activities. Inspection of some of the rolling stock at the depot. Enforcement of regulatory instruments where non-compliances are detected.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is cheering to see women representatives on the inspectorate and railway operation management teams. Serving one’s country in the railways, like voting used to be a man’s job alone. Women’s’ job was to keep the home fires burning; and if it had been left to the men, that is all they would still be doing.
Women’s service to the railways came into being because of the demand of the women themselves. That demand was conceded rather grudgingly and with many shakings of heads by men who were convinced that women would never work in the railways. I do not need to remind you of the way in which women in rail proved themselves. Today’s inspection is a memorial more lasting than a personal tribute.
As the Deputy Minister of Transport, it is my long-frustrated wish to see the following being achieved on the African continent: interoperability, harmonisation as well as the usage of rail as a preferred mode of transport. This could only be achieved through cooperation. Let me remind you that cooperation is the greatest word of the century. With cooperation we can command peace, goodwill and concord without chaos, confusion, and ruin. Those of you who studied music will know that the combination of a choir and an accompaniment brings about harmony. The purpose of the orchestra is to manage the pitch and the purpose of the choir is to tell the story.
Why I am I citing this example?
We need to work together for the collective good of railway safety. Each one of us has an important role to play; a violin may be seen as an insignificant instrument, but if you remove it from the orchestra things will fall apart. We are all in the same boat; if the boat sinks, we will all sink.
Let me recall the lines written by Kantil von Orthing in 1911 for the South Africa railway magazine titled “The man who wins”.
The man who wins is an average man, Not built on any peculiar plan:
Not blessed with any peculiar luck-
Just steady and earnest and full of pluck. For a man who wins is the man who works, Who neither labour nor trouble shirks;
Who uses his hands, his head, and his eyes - The man who wins is the man who tries.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you very much for the courtesy with which you liste
