He has watched helplessly from his cockpit as more than 30 people died on the tracks in his 30 years as a train driver.
“It’s like a car accident, only slower… you can see you’re going to hit them but even if you slam on the brakes and blow the hooter, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
This was the description of only one of the deaths experienced by the 48-year-old train driver.
With about 300 train drivers operating in the Western Cape, he said, the job, once well respected, has become gruesome and dangerous.
He said damaged fencing and many level crossings with no booms or warning signals resulted in people being killed in what he describes as “train traps”.
The man recalled one of the worst incidents, which happened just before Bonteheuwel station, when he watched a father fail to save his young daughter from being hit, after they attempted to cross the tracks with the train bearing down on them.
“He tried to pull her back to the fence but I still bumped the kid. Even if you don’t get hurt physically, you feel the impact on your stomach.
“I missed three stations, which never happens to me, but your mind blanks out. The worst part was that it was a father with his daughter in his hands… I still remember the bright red jersey she had on.”
The majority of incidents occur at level crossings, he said.
Once, the train he was driving hit three women at once, who all died on impact. Images of the accident are still vivid in his mind.
The driver has refused to operate on the Muldersvlei and Strand lines, which he identified as having the most train deaths, as there was a high number of people crossing the tracks illegally.
He said drivers had written letters to Metrorail management, complaining about lack of security and warning signals at level-crossings. The drivers had suggested safety measures to management.
These included installing cameras similar to speed traps to detect when a pedestrian or motorist ignores booms, so that the person caught on camera could be fined.
The man said the country was losing skilled drivers and technicians and without them the 2013 target for new trains would be “a huge challenge”.
He said experienced drivers were needed to train new drivers and regular assessments needed to be done to test their competency levels.
“Today they take a guy from the street who gets a few weeks’ training from a train driver with only two years’ experience.”
He started working as a train assistant in 1980 and only qualified as a train driver seven years later.
“You used to sit next to the driver for a few years and then wait for a vacancy. You had to drive the same train for about five years.”
He said operating at night was dangerous, especially for women train drivers, who put their lives at risk, often starting as early as 3am.
“Imagine if you are a mother with children, getting up at that time to start a shift.”
With only two psychologists assigned to drivers in the Western Cape, he said drivers often had to continue working without counselling, even if they had knocked down somebody on the tracks and were traumatised.
But he praised a new policy which insisted train drivers, involved in accidents be monitored for 72 hours before being allowed to operate again. Previously drivers just continued to work, said the driver.
Then there’s the issue of drivers fearing for their lives.
“In the past you had to bring the train to a standstill and see if the body is cleared but nowadays family, and even passengers, get violent, throwing rocks at you. There is no protection for you as the driver.” - Cape Argus