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Luxury trains stranded
2010-02-05 09:58
Duncan Alfreds
"The Trans Orange was stuck in Geneva in the Free State, but it's on its way now to Beaufort West," Customer Care Manager Benedict Litye told News24.
He said that the train is running about ten hours late as there appeared to be a breakdown in communications between the driver and the Central Train Controller (CTC).
"That train had a problem with the hook-up goods train and it's about 10 hours late now.
"The drivers communicate with the CTC and there must have been a breakdown in that communications, but everything is normal now," he said.
But passengers aboard another luxury Shosholoza Meyl train in KwaZulu-Natal said that they were stuck for several hours on Friday.
Remote area
"We've been stuck here for at least three hours," passenger Essie Moses told News24. "The driver tells us that there is a signal problem and we're not moving."
Litye said that the signal problem was caused by rain.
"With the rain, the water interferes with the signal operation and it doesn't work. You have manual authorisation for the signal to work," said Litye.
He said that the train was on its way to Durban, following the delay, but added that he couldn't understand why it had been delayed for so long.
"Maybe that guy [control operator] wasn't there - I can't understand why they took so long. That's also a remote area and it could be that they lost the signal between the train and the CTC," he added.
In 2009, a pregnant woman died and more than 100 people were injured when two Shosholoza Meyl trains collided head-on between Potchefstroom and Carletonville.
Litye said that the signal problem posed a danger, and that the CTC should call the national contact centre if there was a problem.
"They took their time to do that (phone the contact centre), and that is a busy line," he said. "That train is moving now."
Passengers though, said that they were still stuck at a fork, with no signals for the train.
- News24
