Playing with death: Authorities are trying to curb dangerous rail-related practices
Every day, 1.3-million passengers travel along 1 537km of electrified track, embarking and disembarking from 230 stations in Gauteng alone. Between 25 000 and 30 000 trains run per month in Gauteng using an available fleet of 2 296 coaches, of which 712 are out of service. Nationally the figure is 2.4-million per day, which adds up to a total of 530-million passenger trips per annum.
“This is unacceptably low at 17% [of the market] and our target is to double market share in the next five years,” said Prasa’s Andries Rabekane, regional operations manager at Metrorail. “Gauteng has the busiest stations in the country, followed by Cape Town. Park Station has 300 000 commuters, Germiston 125 000 commuters and Mabopane 85 000 commuters — all per day.”
Another pressing issue is that the longest travelling time in Gauteng is one hour and 47 minutes one-way, which Rabekane describes as unacceptable as a home-work-home lifestyle and something around which they have to do better. He also says it is imperative to introduce proper timetables, address network challenges such as when it is unsafe for a train to move in a particular section and eliminate speed restrictions.
“Our service performance is also unacceptable, with only between 70% to 85% of trains on time and many cancellations.”
Rabekane says its commuter profile has earnings from R2 500 to R10 000 per month, but that 49% of its passengers earn no income — which has also left the door wide open for fraud and counterfeiting of tickets. He also said that every time there is a community protest, they go to rail to be heard and damages are usually the outcome.
He describes the constant problem of people crossing the lines and being killed, which underlines the need for walls and fences — as well as problems with people who hang out of trains and the very dangerous practice of train “surfing”, which he said results from a lack of education. Fatalities on the track, coupled with copper cable, Eskom cable and other theft and illegal connections causes more consumer disruption as not all stations have a communication system to relay this to commuters. But he says they want to correct this.
“Kliptown is another example, where trains are being uncoupled so that people can raid carriages and passengers. Theft is a huge challenge, as is arson — both against and by commuters. Safety poses a serious risk to our commuter and we also have to deal with assault of train personnel which goes to the extent where people and drivers get killed,” continues Rabekane.
All is not doom and gloom and efforts are underway to reduce travelling times, implement service flexibility arrangements and improve network availability, as well as dealing with safety-related issues including reducingovercrowding and apply adherence to how platforms work. There is also a platform rectification programme to make access easier for the elderly, very young and the disabled.
The R13-billion infrastructure rehabilitation will also bring about new drainage systems, new tubular tracks, walls and fencing which will also enhance safety. The aging fleet will also be replaced as new stock is rolled out and a real positive is that once the Nigel, Gauteng, manufacturing facility is fully up and running there is a minimal requirement that 65% of all components are local content. Over the first 10 years, R51-billion will be spent and 65 000 jobs created.
The unveiling of the Gauteng Rail Nerve Centre (GNC) in Tembisa earlier this year made public its state-of-the-art technology and it is intended as station upgrades take place to allow for communication with commuters regarding any interruptions on the network plus a protection room which will monitor criminal activities at train stations and depots through CCTV footage.
Old signalling systems will get a R3.8-billion facelift over the next seven years and will link to the Gauteng Nerve Centre. Part of the R13-billion budget on infrastructure rehabilitation will be spent on creating modern stations with speed gates and an integrated ticketing system.
“We are trying by all means to control the rail space, addressing vandalisation, dumping and encroachment, but it is an on-going problem that could also present an opportunity and Sisonke can really contribute here.”