NEELS BLOM: Growing scrap-metal industry and poor policing derail train networks
Without big changes, Prasa will find it difficult to get full service back on track
Trains are dangerous. Fixed tracks make them prone to collision and their steel bulk suggests an inexorable momentum that puts the law in the laws of Newtonian physics. But mass and velocity are also the virtues of trains. Metrorail, which is operated by the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), transports at least 1.7-million commuters each working day and Shosholoza Meyl (also operated by Prasa) moves 4-million passengers a year. This means accidents and fatalities are likely. But what is an acceptable statistic? Recent data presented in a Council for Scientific and Industrial Research study shows that SA’s rail-safety record is off-the-charts unacceptable. The EU, US, Australia, South Korea and Canada all report less than one death per 1-million train kilometres in a range of 0.16 to 0.63. In SA, 5.85 people die for every 1-million train kilometres. Straight comparisons, however, do not necessarily provide the best insights. A closer look at the details of SA’s statistics may be m...
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