Train: Hasty repairs to blame?

2003-10-24 21:59

Cape Town - A hasty repair schedule, which jeopardises the safety of trains, could have led to Friday's train disaster at Cape Town station, claim trade union members.

Apparently Metrorail officials said earlier "things were not right", but they failed to do anything to prevent the crash.

The disaster happened at about 08:00 when train 3514 from Wellington pulled into Cape Town station and crashed through barriers and into a wall. It had been carrying about 100 passengers.

An investigation into Friday's train disaster has already been launched, but there is a strong suspicion that faulty brakes were to blame.

Witnesses told how they ran for their lives when it became clear the train was travelling too fast and that it was not going to stop. At least 18 people, including the train's engineer, were taken to hospital for treatment.

Some commuters claimed they escaped injury because Metrorail officials had told them to leave the train earlier.

But not all passengers were warned. These passengers told how the train flew through stations where it would normally have stopped. They said it stopped at Kraaifontein, but with difficulty.

The United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) said on Friday that locomotive mechanics at Salt River recently warned a high-ranking delegation from Metrorail that they were not being given enough time to service trains properly.

Mechanics are not prepared to give trains the all clear when they have not had long enough to work on them, said Chris Vos, Utatu's general secretary, in statement on Friday.

One just hopes that this train is not one that was put back into service hastily, he said.

Riana Jacobs, Metrorail's spokesperson, was unable to deny or confirm these allegations on Friday.

It is too early to speculate but all allegations are being investigated, she said.

By late on Friday afternoon most of the injured had been discharged from hospital.

- Die Burger