Regulator not clear about ‘safety concerns’ that led to Prasa losing its permit
It remains unclear precisely what "safety concerns" led to the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) not renewing the Passenger Rail Agency of SA’s (Prasa’s) safety permit.Prasa transports nearly 2-million commuters on its trains.United National Transport Union (Untu) general secretary Steve Harris said they had no luck finding out exactly what safety concerns worried the RSR. "This is the dilemma we [have] found ourselves with." But in an interview with TimesLIVE, he sketched out some of the general issues related to train safety.The regulator caused a stir when it announced that it was not renewing the safety permit‚ which expired at midnight on July 31. Prasa applied for an extension and was granted a temporary safety permit on Thursday, valid until the end of August.Harris said some of the problems faced by Prasa include cable theft‚ manual authorisations‚ unsafe coaches, and the need to keep the trains running."You’d be shocked to see the state of the coaches. It happens that from tim...
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