UPDATE: Mountain View train crash findings released
“Accidents such as the Mountain View incident indicated that Prasa was in contravention of its own standard operating procedures as well as the directives of the regulator.”
Preliminary findings by the railway safety regulator have revealed that the fatal Mountain View train collision was as a result of a breakdown in communication between the driver and train control officer.
Four people died and more than 600 others were injured when a train travelling to Pretoria station went into the rear of another train destined for the Belle Ombre station.
Both trains reportedly had about 1 000 commuters each and had departed from the Mabopane station.
In a statement issued on Friday, the safety regulator said based on the data received from the passenger rail agency (Prasa), the section from Pretoria North to Mountainview had been operating under manual authorisation since November 2018.
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“After the train driver repeated the authority incorrectly, the train control officer acknowledged the incorrect authority. This resulted in the train entering the section between the Pretoria North and Mountain View station wrongfully.
“The train driver and control officer did not comply with the language policy when authorising,” said the regulator.
The regulator said the damage observed on the coaches of both trains indicated that the train to Pretoria station may have been travelling at a considerable speed.
“When trains are manually authorised they are required to travel at a speed of 30km/h.”
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The exact speed will, however, only be confirmed once the event recorder data is received and analysed by the regulator.
Acting rail safety regulator chief executive officer Tshepo Kgare said accidents such as the Mountainview incident indicated that Prasa was in contravention of its own standard operating procedures as well as the directives of the regulator.
She said the regulator has consistently highlighted the risks inherent to prolonged periods of manual train authorisations and continued to compel Prasa to provide proper control and supervision of manual train authorisation.
“We, however, keep on seeing a recurrence of incidents attributable to this method of operation. Even after being issued with a court order to improve safety on its operations, Prasa continues to demonstrate the highest levels of lethargy and disregard for rail safety in their operations.”
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She said the RSR would continue investigations in order to establish the contributing factors and the root cause of the collision.
The regulator sent commiserations to the families of the deceased and wished those injured and admitted to hospital a speedy recovery.
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