Rovos Rail crash

[Dylan Knott]

Civilians are doing the reporting thats why. They have no clue re Triage etc. Use blue, red, yellow and green for starters.

[Greg Hart]

The Vacuum story sounds like the cause..

Its hard to "create" vacuum through a 19 coach train I know first hand, You have to release all the brakes (pull strings and the brake cylinder piston drops) so the loco can actually pull the train without skidding wheels.. Im guessing someone pulled all the strings BEFORE the new loco coupled up.

[John Ashworth]

More photos here

[Andreas Umnus]

Very sad to see and read that.
My condolences to the relatives of the fatalities
and my best wishes for the injured people.

I posted some links you posted here in the Drehscheibe-Online forum.

[Greg Hart]

more here.

http://multimedia.timeslive.co.za/photo ... ain-crash/

[John Ashworth]

Daily Mail (UK) - Rovos Rail train derails in South Africa killing at least two people - nothing new, really.

[John Ashworth]

Rovos Rail train derails in South Africa: Two dead

Page last updated at 15:20 GMT, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 16:20 UK
BBC

A luxury tourist train has derailed near the South African capital, Pretoria, killing at least two people and injuring at least 25 more.

The dead include a woman and her baby, who was born moments after the derailment, reports AFP news agency.

The train is run by Rovos Rail, which offers "unique train safaris" in its wood-panelled carriages, some of which have hot showers and air conditioning.

The nationalities of the casualties are not known.

"We are dealing with a mixture of foreigners and South Africans," said Johan Pieterse, spokesperson for Emergency Medical Services (EMS), reports South Africa's Business Day.

A spokesperson for Rovos Rail told AFP that most of its customers were from Europe and the US.

Line closed

"It's absolute carnage," emergency worker Chris Botha told AFP.

"Some of the railway coaches are lying on top of each other and absolute wreckages.

"They had to use hydraulic rescue equipment to cut some of the people free," he said.

The train was carrying 55 passengers and had come from Cape Town.

The derailment occurred outside the Blue Train depot in Pretoria, says AFP.

The Blue Train is another luxury tourist train which runs between Cape Town and Pretoria, but only Rovos Rail uses restored antique trains.

Safety inspectors told AFP that it appeared the accident happened during the switch from an electric locomotive to the steam engine Rovos Rail sometimes uses to pull its carriages.

The part of the line affected by the accident has been closed until further notice.

The accident comes 50 days before South Africa hosts the World Cup.

[John Ashworth]

From sar-L

Hi – A sitrep of the Rovos Rail Accident 21 April 2010:

A police friend and I visited the scene of the accident. The accident is at
the following place:

- Between the Y-points of the Eastern- and Southern Lines and the
old Rovos departure point. (I walked up to the rail bridge over Nelson
Mandela Ave on the Eastern line where I saw my 1st red 18E- 604 and blue
18E-024.)

I took some pictures after talking to the Metro Police. Today to visit the
scene of this accident makes my heart weep – such lovely stock – and so
damaged. It’s a serious accident – the seriousness is acerbated because of
taxi strike and all trains from Fountains and Walker Street cannot enter the
station from the east. Many pedestrians walked along the line.

Near the scene of the accident we met the crew – they recognised us because
my friend is nearly 7 foot tall and we saw them last night. I took pics of
the crew and of the scene of the accident.

[John Ashworth]

'Train crash forced labour'

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:29
iafrica.com

Two workers, one of whom was pregnant, were killed when a luxury Rovos Rail train derailed near Pretoria on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Netcare 911 said.

Chris Botha said the pregnant woman went into labour immediately after the accident, possibly from the force of the impact, but neither she nor her baby survived.

"We don't know how far advanced her pregnancy was," Botha said.

"But the foetus was very small. They both died."

Earlier, ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak said five passengers were critically injured, nine sustained serious injuries and 35 minor injuries.

Vermaak said one of the critically injured was airlifted to the Eugene Marais hospital in Pretoria. Other injured passengers were taken to at least three hospitals in and around Pretoria.

"It is a chaotic scene," Vermaak said.

"Patients were strewn all over the scene. We had to dispatch ambulances from Johannesburg as well to cope with the number of injured."

Vermaak said there were 17 ambulances and 10 rescue vehicles on the scene. Some of the passengers had to be cut free of the mangled wreckage of the train.

"Some of the patients were thrown from the wreckage and some were trapped inside," he said.

"The Tshwane fire department had to use hydraulic tools to free the trapped passengers from the wreckage. Most of the injured sustained fractures and full body injures when the train derailed."

Rovos Rail's marketing manager, David Patrick, said the cause of the derailment was not yet known, but would be investigated.

"We don't know much yet," Patrick said.

"We had an incoming train from Cape Town to Pretoria, and it derailed between Centurion and the Pretoria (railway) station."

Patrick said the company was part of the National Rail Network and an independent investigation would be launched in conjunction with Spoornet.

The Railway Safety Regulator said it had learnt of the derailment with "alarm".

Spokesperson Lawrence Venkile said the accident affected all commuter rail services on the Pretoria main line. The affected portion of the line had been closed until further notice.

"Our Railway Safety Inspectors are at the scene of the accident to immediately conduct an investigation on the root cause of the accident," Venkile said in a statement.

He said a preliminary investigation showed the train was on its way to Capital Park, outside Pretoria, en route from Cape Town.

It stopped in Centurion to change locomotives. Before the new locomotive could be coupled, the rest of the train "went into motion and ran away... resulting in a derailment outside the Blue Train depot in Pretoria".

Venkile said the investigation would focus on procedures followed in the changeover of the locomotives, the condition of the brakes of the train, as well as "other factors which may have contributed to the accident".

Rovos Rail was established in 1989 and offered "unique train safaris through the heart of Africa", according to its website. The company runs two trains with a passenger capacity of 72 each.

[Andreas Umnus]

There is just a question in Drehscheibe. Are that really historic coaches (when whre they built) or that are new coaches make it look old?

[John Ashworth]

Rovos Rail has some very old wooden-bodied coaches, going back to the 1920s (?). Others are more recent steel-bodied sleeper coaches converted into luxury coaches. There are experts on this forum who can give you exact details.

[Luca Lategan]

Both Andreas. How many of each, I don't know.

There was also an incident about two years ago where heritage stock was also destroyed at Rovos.
here and here

[Andreas Umnus]

Okay, that's fot the moment already an interesting answer. I will translate your answer in the German forum. But if there still comes more information - I'm curious too.
Thank you John and Luka - I saw just now your answer.

[John Ashworth]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Chris Janisch <janisch24@gmail.com>
Date: Apr 21, 2010 10:51 PM
Subject: FOTR condolences
To: Andrew Gaul , Sanet de Lange , "Rovos Rail - Mensing, Wolf"

To Rohan and Rovos staff members

On behalf of the board and members of Friends of the Rail, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to you and all the passengers injured in the terrible accident.

Please be assured of our support at this difficult time, and do not hesitate to call on us for any assistance needed.

Yours sincerely

Chris Janisch(Sec)

[John Ashworth]

A fair bit of international interest which reflects Rovos Rail's international clientele:

Australia: Two killed in train derailment

Sky News: Two Killed As Luxury Train Comes Off Rails