Blue Train mishaps

[John Ashworth]

Blue day for luxury South African train

(AFP) – 01/12/12

JOHANNESBURG — A luxury passenger train in South Africa struck it double unlucky when it broke down because of stolen cables and a replacement locomotive then crashed into a wagon, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Disgruntled passengers were bused 225 kilometres (140 miles) to Cape Town after the Blue Train made an unplanned stop at a small country town on Tuesday.

Thieves had stolen the power cables, leaving the train stranded in Matjiesfontein on the journey from Pretoria to Cape Town, according to the Afrikaans-language newspaper Die Burger.

Another mishap hit the train, which offers iconic yesteryear luxury travel for high-end tourists, when a locomotive that had to pull it back to Pretoria crashed into a wagon.

"The aggressive shunting damaged the train," Mike Asefovitz, spokesman for railway company Transnet Freight Rail, told the newspaper, referring to the process of switching locomotives.

No one was hurt in the crash.

Frustrated passengers were found to be drowning their sorrows at a local hotel, according to the newspaper.
Travellers who had tickets from Cape Town to Pretoria were bused to the town on Wednesday.

Passengers left after Blue Train bump

Sapa | 01 December, 2011 08:38
Times Live

Passengers on the luxurious Blue Train were taken to Cape Town by bus on Wednesday night after the locomotive crashed into wagons at Matjiesfontein station.

Transnet rail spokesman Mike Asefovitz told Die Burger newspaper that the train had an unscheduled stop at Matjiesfontein due to problems with the overhead cables at Hex River.

By Monday morning the overhead cables, apparently stolen, had not been replaced and the group of passengers at Cape Town station had to take a bus to Matjiesfontein to catch the train.

Meanwhile, a locomotive was sent to pull the train to Pretoria.

The driver was hooking the locomotive when he allegedly moved too fast and collided with the first car. Nobody was injured in the incident, but the train was damaged.

A group of frustrated passengers sat at the Lord Milner Hotel and ordered "something cold".

Two buses transported the passengers back to Cape Town.