Pretoria – A faulty track has been blamed for the derailment of the Gautrain in Pretoria last week.
A preliminary investigation into the derailment by the railway safety regulator indicated there was a problem with the track interlocking.
This was at the point where installations allowed the train to be guided from track to track.
Regulator spokesperson Madelein Williams said the installations had not been completely closed for the safe passage of trains, and this had led to the derailment of the train in Hatfield last week.
No one was injured in the incident.
“The regulator is in the process of instituting a board of inquiry to establish the root cause of the occurrence and to provide recommendations in order to prevent similar occurrences in future,” said Williams.
The regulator’s preliminary findings are different from those released by the Bombela Concession Company, which found the derailment had happened because of human error.
Today the regulator is expected to release a preliminary report into another train accident in Rosslyn, Pretoria on Monday.
It said it was worried about the number of train accidents. “Any accident is one too many.”