One year's accidents cost SA rail ZAR 635m

[John Ashworth]

ONE YEAR’S ACCIDENTS COST SA R635M

By railwaysafricaeditor / November 1, 2010 / Mishaps Africa

The latest figures released by South Africa’s Rail Safety Regulator – for the financial year 2008-2009 – show that the direct costs of rail accidents to the country amounted to R635 million. These costs include R576m for Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and R60m for Metrorail but take no account of indirect costs arising from service delays and cancellations. In the Regulator’s annual report, CEO Mosenngwa Mofi said the poor condition of the country’s rail infrastructure and rolling stock led to constant failures in railway operations and inherently less safe procedures. He highlighted poor signalling infrastructure as a major problem.

In all, 5,307 occurrences were recorded in 2008-09, of which 1,202 were collisions and 1,154 derailments. “The rate of derailments and collisions,” Mofi said, “remains unacceptably high and this is mainly apparent in freight rail operations. More than 90% of TFR occurrence costs are directly attributed to derailments and collisions. This has an impact on the efficient operation of the freight rail system as poor safety performance impacts directly on the efficiency and competitiveness of rail freight transport. Derailments have led to costly delays on freight corridors whilst the average cancellation of trains amounts to 10 trains per day due to accidents and other security incidents such as theft of copper cables.”

Mr Mofi said that the commuter system operated by the Passenger Rail Association of SA (Prasa) was a major concern as it was battling to provide a safe, reliable service because of the poor state of the infrastructure and rolling stock. He said 40% of the fleet was more than 37 years old and a third was constantly out of service, leading to poor performance, safety and reliability. He said the signalling system was at the end of its economic life, with only 14% of the 162 signalling installations not having exceeded their design life.