Portfolio committee urges rail regulator to put stop to level crossing accidents

The Portfolio Committee on Transport has called on the Rail Safety Regulator to speedily determine how the frequent accidents involving trains and vehicles could be put to a stop.

The committee made this call following yet another accident involving a bakkie and a train at a level crossing in Blackheath in the Western Cape on Friday morning‚ which resulted in the death of seven men.

The Buttskop level crossing‚ which is protected by boom gates and flashing lights‚ saw a similar incident in August 2010 when a minibus taxi carrying schoolchildren tried to cross the railway line‚ even though the safety booms were down. Ten schoolchildren died in that incident.

There was another horrific accident in January when a passenger train‚ operated by Shosholoza Meyl‚ collided with a truck on a level crossing near Kroonstad‚ resulting in the death of 21 people and injuries to 254.

The Kroonstad train was derailed following the collision. Seven of its 12 carriages caught fire.

Committee chairperson Dikeledi Magadzi on Friday sent condolences to the families of those who died.

“To have lost so many lives of South African workers is disheartening‚ almost to a similar incident that involved unsuspecting schoolchildren some years ago‚” Magadzi said.

She said two accidents in the same spot eight years apart called for action.

“The Railway Safety Regulator should thoroughly investigate the circumstances of this kind of carnage exactly in the same spot‚ only a few years apart‚” she said.

She said agencies in the Department of Transport must move to ensure that such a similar accident did not occur again.

“Communities also need to be vigilant as they cross railways‚ obey the rules and satisfy themselves that there are no oncoming trains‚” Magadzi said.