Delinquent passengers are running amok on the country’s trains, creating a headache for Metrorail who announced this week that it had spent R177-million this year on security alone.
For next year it has budgeted R221-million for security expenses.
”Delinquent passengers pose a challenge. Passengers stand between carriages and block doors from closing. There is theft, vandalism, fare evasion and commuter evasion. We need about 10 000 security personnel to deal with commuter behaviour,” chief executive officer Honey Mateya said in Durban on Tuesday night.
Metrorail’s emphasis was on safety and security, Mateya said, describing it as ”the strategic backbone of public transport and economic development”.
In the face of negative publicity generated by several fatal train accidents in the past three years, Mateya said public safety was his top priority. The largest rail disaster took place near KwaDukuza, on the North Coast, with 20 people killed.
Mateya appealed for the former Railway Police to be re-established.
”People burn the train when it does not arrive on time; children sit on the rail tracks; thieves force the train to halt in order to loot passengers; and cable theft is causing a dilemma to our efficiency,” said Mateya.
”Already, one scrap yard had been closed in Gauteng and one was targeted in Durban for closure.”
Recent findings by two enquiries into train disasters found human error and negligence had contributed to the crashes which claimed lives. In the KwaDukuza crash, a passenger train carrying school children crashed into a stationary train.
The inquiries found driver fatigue; train drivers working for more than 14 hours; retrenched drivers not being replaced; low staff morale; and affirmative action policies implemented resulting in poorly trained drivers being employed.
But Mateya said that while the enquiries yielded these results, if nobody stole cables there would not be accidents in the first place.
”We have now increased the driver intakes and brought those who were retrenched as contractors. We have reviewed the training given to drivers, and have retested some drivers. We have increased medical surveillance. There is a lot we have done. I am not going to apologise about affirmative acton,” Mateya said.
Mateya added there was insufficient funding received from the government and that Metrorail should be granted direct funding from the treasury. – Sapa