Railway Safety Regulator to focus on Western Cape

[Luca Lategan]

Maybe they started their focus in the wrong province...

The Railway Safety Regulator launched its safety awareness campaign in the Western Cape on Monday, describing the prevalence of safety related incidents there as "alarming".

In the past two months, 177 incidents had been reported to the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) and inspected by the Railway Safety Inspectorate, it said in a statement.

The RSR said the nature of the incidents ranged from people falling from moving trains, to people being struck by trains, stones being thrown at moving trains, cable theft and other security-related incidents.

Safety inspectors would conduct inspections in a number of areas as part of the campaign this week and next week in the Western Cape.

The RSR said the number of deaths and injuries in the Western Cape railway environment was unacceptably high.

"Partnerships with communities are a critical part of our approach to improve safety performance and we expect of operators like [the Passenger Rail Association of South Africa and Transnet Freight Rail to do the same," RSR said. - Sapa