Pretoria - The driver of the Metrorail Business Express train which went through a red light before ramming into another train had an excellent service record, Prasa chief executive Lucky Montana said on Wednesday.
“We must say she had a very splendid record. Last year she was awarded a ten-year safety award,” the Passenger Rail Agency head told reporters in Pretoria.
“She joined our company in 2002 and throughout the ten-year period, I think she distinguished herself well. Once someone is awarded a ten-year safety award, you can see the amount of signals they have to contend with and keep up.”
Montana said “a lot of questions” were being asked about the train driver after the accident at Denver which left a security guard dead and hundreds of commuters injured.
“We have got people who take pride in their work and are committed. Sometimes these men and women who drive the trains experience difficulties, they are subjected to abuse but we are very open. We support the employees,” he said.
“It is a South African thing that when there is a big problem like this one, the first thing we look at is proportioning blame than dealing with the situation in its totality. As the leadership, we take accountability for everything.”
He said, however, there were preliminary findings indicating that there “certain things” that the Business Express train did not do.
“For example, it was in a 90km/h section and the train was initially at 105 kilometers (per hour). Of course there is a issue there. Secondly, the fact that the red signal was passed is in itself a problem,” said Montana.
“What we are saying is that those may be contributory factors. Those may not be the causes. We are waiting for the (safety) regulator to say here are the root causes. We don’t want to preempt an investigation of an independent authority.”
Chief executive of Prasa Rail Mosenngwa Mofi said there is no evidence so far indicating that signal failure played a role in the accident.
Preliminary findings indicate that the Metrorail Business Express train went through a red light before ramming into the stationery Metro Plus locomotive.
“I can confirm that the Metro Plus train had stopped at that signal. The driver indicated, he reported that he wasn’t sure whether the signal was giving him a clearance or not. He therefore communicated with the chain control office.”
“In the process of that communication, the crash happened – two minutes thereafter. The Metro Plus was stationery for around two minutes.”
Mofi said the Business Express train microprocessor, working similarly to an aeroplane’s black box to capture movement data, driving patterns and speed, had so far indicating that the impact speed was 61 kilometers per hour.
“We can also confirm that at one minute and thirty seconds before the incident, the (Business Express) train was moving at 105 kilometres per hour. Just 15 seconds before the impact, the train was moving at 91 kilometers per hour,” said Mofi.
“We can also confirm that the signal behind had been passed at danger. This means the signal was indicating red and automatically protecting the train in front. If a signal is passed at danger, it means the driver passed a red robot.”
He said the issue of driver fatigue had already been ruled out as both drivers had had sufficient rest over the weekend.
The Business Express train, reportedly speeding, rammed into the back of the Metro rail train after 7am on Tuesday at Denver Station in Johannesburg.
Of the 240 injured passengers, only five were still in hospitals on Wednesday afternoon.
ANA