The Minister of Transport, Mr Joe Maswanganyi, is pleased with the swift response by the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR), the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and Emergency Services, following the two Metro Rail trains that collided yesterday, 09 January 2018, at the Geldenhuis Station, East of Johannesburg.

Emergency services gave the injured the necessary medical care onsite and transferred them to various hospitals around Gauteng, whilst PRASA restored rail operations following the removal of both the affected trains and the fixing of the damaged perway.

The affected Springs line is now cleared for operation and services resumed this morning, the 10th January 2018.

In order to ensure that there are no further delays on the train sets in the Springs line, PRASA   re-commissioned the affected trains after conducting thorough maintenance and mechanical tests.

The RSR team of investigators commenced without delays with the preliminary investigations and a report is expected to be released soon.

It remains the contention of the Minister that the RSR report and its recommendations will be applied to improve rail services in the country.

“It is incidences such as these that corroborate the decision by government to invest billions in the PRASA station modernisation, signalling programme and fleet renewal programme. These investments will ensure that incidences such as these become a thing of the past,” said Minister Maswanganyi.

Minister Maswanganyi reiterates government’s commitment to provide a reliable, cost effective, efficient, safe and modernised transport services in South Africa guaranteed by an independent, transformative and progressive regulatory regime.

This commitment will be safeguarded provided communities in their various formations partner with government to ensure that the rail network is a protected asset which has the potential to yield maximum and reciprocal benefit for the economy and the South African populace in general, particularly those that rely and uses the rail network on a daily basis.

Minister Maswanganyi apologises for any inconveniences that might have been caused to the passengers, their families and business as a result of this occurrence.

Minister Maswanganyi thanks the emergency services, doctors and nurses who attended to the injured whom by now in majority have since been release from various hospitals.

The Minister also thanks the commuters for their patience whilst services were restored to normality in the affected Springs line.

Meanwhile, Minister Maswanganyi condemns the shooting of the Metrorail Security guard at the Khayelitsha Train Station in Cape Town yesterday evening.

PRASA is working together with the South Africa Police Services (SAPS) to arrest perpetrators of this gruesome crime.

In the interest of commuter and employee safety, the train services are currently suspended until police clearance is granted to resume the operations.

Minister Maswanganyi sends his condolences to the family, friends and relatives of the deceased Guard.

Metrorail customers are encouraged to listen to public address announcements at stations, to consult Metrorail's passenger information channels and their phones, if registered to receive short message alerts and to share the information with fellow commuters on the developments throughout the day.

 

Issued by Department of Transport