While investigations are under way into the cause of a train collision in KwaZulu-Natal, an engineering expert believes the latest incident is indicative of the poor state of South Africa’s rail services.
It is believed that two Transnet freight trains collided on the railway tracks in eLubana.
According to reports, Train 4831collided with Train 4623 that was stationary at eLubana, on the KZN north coast, due to the power outage in Richards Bay, resulting in both trains derailing at the weekend. No injuries were reported.
It is another blow to coal volumes and mining companies using the rail line. The industry has seen billions of rand lost in potential export revenue amid TFR problems.
The Democratic Alliance is calling on Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) to publicly release the full accident report and further provide regular updates on the progress being made to clear the scene of the accident.
"We also want firm time-lines on when the affected export line will be restored to full operation. Any prolonged delays will be detrimental to the business operations of major commodity exporters who rely on the affected export coal line to transport their commodities to port," the DA's Dr Mimmy Gondwe said.
Speaking to eNCA, Department of Industrial Engineering at Stellenbosch, Professor Jan Havenga said SA has outdated train control systems and ailing infrastructure.
He said it goes back to state capture where certain elements are required to successfully manage rail systems, however, during the years of state capture, focus was on locomotives and there were no efforts to maintain infrastructure and renew operating systems.
Havenga said he hopes that efforts will be made to improve the country’s antiquated systems.
He added that the cause of Sunday’s accident boils down to signalling systems not being good enough.
Havenga said there are short-terms solutions that TFR can look at, however, this should be left to the new management to improve systems.
IOL