South African public transport: A tragedy waiting

[Luca Lategan]

TWO accidents yesterday sent warning signals about the state of South Africa’s rail and air transportation ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
The horrific head-on collision between two trains has cost a pregnant mother and a train manager their lives.
It was an entirely avoidable collision that appears to have been the result of human era.
But human era should long have been eliminated as a potential cause of rail accidents by the introduction of fail-safe anti-collision technology.
The billions spent on upgrading our transport infrastructure should have considered such technology.
Train Anti-Collision Systems, as they are known, appear to have passed our transport authorities by.
Such systems automatically stop trains that are approaching each other on the same line, preventing any contact.
The second accident, involving an Airlink plan which overshot the runway at George to end up on a busy tarred road adjacent to the airport, should cause as much concern to government.
It is time that the authorities conducted a full investigation into the cause of this airline’s growing list of safety problems.
The prospect of an air or rail crash during next year’s World Cup is horrifying.
It could take decades for this country to recover from the negative images that would result from such a tragedy.
But equally horrifying is the danger that South Africans continue to face on taxis, trains, buses and planes each day.
Commuting ought to be a safe, routine experience. But for many South Africans the trip to and from work is a dice with death in a speeding crowded vehicle with poor safety precautions in place.

[Derek Walker]

Dont worry, tis the season for bus and taxi carnage on our roads over December.... then we will hear all the post mortems and grandiose schemes.
Heard it all before.

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Derek you are right. The road carnage will continue until they really crack down on these unroadworthy and unruly taxi's and buses, however it does excuse negligence for a train driver to not stop where he was suppose to , causing 2 deaths and 30 million damage. I note that Shos has added an extra sitter train from CT to Jhb and East London almost every day from now till after the holidays. Some days there are 10 Shos trains leaving and arriving in Cape Town. This accident could not have come at a worse time. I hope they have the extra rolling stock to continue with this extra service. Its great to see so many passengers using the train to return home for the holidays. Our cleaner at work went to East London for a funeral recently by taxi. She was charged R1.400 return. I said to her that she could have flown for that price or used the train for R500 return.
Lets hope the train drivers will take extra caution and extra vigilance especially over the holiday period been so busy.

[Greg Hart]

"
The horrific head-on collision between two trains has cost a pregnant mother and a train manager their lives.
It was an entirely avoidable collision that appears to have been the result of human era.
But human era should long have been eliminated as a potential cause of rail accidents by the introduction of fail-safe anti-collision technology.
The billions spent on upgrading our transport infrastructure should have considered such technology.
Train Anti-Collision Systems, as they are known, appear to have passed our transport authorities by.
Such systems automatically stop trains that are approaching each other on the same line, preventing any contact".


Im not sure what system of train control they use there> but if its is Track warrant system like they have in some sections in natal, your train order comes over gps to a computer screen which is fixed in the cab. data is programed in the computer of your destination etc, if you pass your stopping point to recieve your next order, it shuts down your locomotive, {you cant bull sh!t gps} :) and you cant reset it until a IT faulty comes and resets it, or a new order is given.. (im not sure if this all works 100% , but im told its in operation)

cheers

[Derek Walker]

Odd, this morning there was yet another disasterous bus accident on the very road where they are touting laying a railway line to avoid these accidents.

[Steve Appleton]

Derek, there have indeed been noises made about building a new "high speed" line out to Mpumalanga along the Moloto Rd corridor. The proposals tout a "standard guage" (wide guage to us South Africans) line, maybe as an extension to the Gautrain system.
Once again, those whose business it is to sell surplus international rail equipment seem to be leading the charge, rather than those selling a well-researched local solution.
Besides the obvious operational restrictions that come from the use of a different guage (poor integration with the existing Metrorail services in the Tswane area and no through running being some of them), I believe that this would be the wrong type of train - over-luxurious and unaffordable to most of the people it would be built to serve.
One has to ask what is wrong with the newer 10M5 Metrorail sets (including their Metro Plus and Business Express derivatives)? One also has to ask why the emphasis again on an incompatible guage? I sense some promised but unsubstantiated benefits together with potential back-handers to uninformed, unkowledgeable political decision makers (yet again?).

[John Ashworth]

Greg, I believe that was your first post to the FOTR Forum. Site Administrators usually manage to notice first posts and issue a welcome, but this one passed us by, maybe because it was on such a tragic topic. But, belatedly, welcome to the FOTR forum. I see you have already made several other posts - your participation is much appreciated.

[Greg Hart]

Cheers. thanks guys, nice to be on this forum