We warned Prasa: PAC reacts to deadly Tembisa train crash

24 October 2016 - 19:36 By TMG Digital

The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) said it warned the Passenger Rail Association of South Africa (Prasa) last year that an accident like the one that killed one person and left more than 240 injured on Monday was inevitable should it fail to upgrade its rail and signalling infrastructure. "We complained to Prasa early [last] year when lives were lost in a collision between two trains in Denver‚ Johannesburg. Nothing was done to improve the rail condition‚" said party spokesperson Kenneth Mokgatlhe. One person died and scores were treated and taken to hospital after two passenger trains collided on the Tembisa line near Kaalfontein‚ east of Johannesburg‚ ER24 said.Spokesman Russel Meiring said paramedics from their company‚ along with numerous other services‚ arrived on the scene and found that the two trains had collided head-on.The accident is believed to have happened at the rail split towards Tembisa and Oakmoor stations"Numerous occupants had already begun to climb out of the train and were now scattered around the scene‚" Meiring said‚ adding that the final injury toll was 242.The PAC's Mokgatlhe said the‚ "lack of maintenance‚ poor-scheduling and insecurity remains a daily experience of commuters""Moreover‚ the rail system is caught in a vicious circle of under-investment and legacy signal technology. This reflects lack of strategic focus from the leadership of Prasa‚ corruption being the main focus."Prasa had not commented at the time of publishing.- TMG Digital..

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