Human error caused East London crash: Metrorail

Human error caused a train accident in which 29 people were injured in East London, Eastern Cape, Metrorail said on Friday.

"Preliminary investigations suggest that the incident was a result of human error on the part of personnel responsible for train control," spokesman Lawrence Venkile said in a statement.

"A Transnet train control officer admitted a train into a platform that was already occupied by a stationary train with passengers on board."

Fourteen coaches and two locomotives were damaged during the collision at the East London railway station on Thursday.

Transnet Freight Rail was responsible for control of train movements in the area.

"Train services have resumed and all the injured passengers were released from hospital yesterday [Thursday]. There were no critical injuries."

The investigation was continuing.

- Times Live

Grueling work for emergency personnel at train accident

It has been a crazy 24 hours for JHB paramedics – starting off with the child who was injured yesterday morning after being dragged by a taxi up to this morning where more than 45 emergency vehicles were dispatched to the scene of a train accident in Attridgeville.

Investigations are already underway which will determine the reason as to the two passenger trains colliding into one another while using the same line. After the impact, one of the trains derailed and lay at the side of the tracks.

The metal was torn and crumpled from the force of the two trains colliding. After the first emergency vehicles arrival on scene, the area was cordoned off and a staging area for patients was erected nearby. Hundreds of emergency service personnel were either working on freeing trapped patients, coordinating the removal of the injured, treating those that were injured and transporting the injured to hospital.

After approximately two and a half hours on scene, it appears that most of the more seriously injured patients have been removed to hospital and only those that have sustained relatively minor injuries in the incident will be transported shortly.

Three people, including the driver of one of the trains has suffered critical injuries, one of them was removed from the scene by a medical helicopter. Seven more patients suffered moderate to serious injuries and the remaining patients with minor injuries totaled more than 100.

Without every effort put in by each person involved in the rescue, treatment or coordination on scene, we could have seen a much larger scale disaster.

- ER24

Rescue vehicles rush to train accident scene

Two passenger trains collided at Kalafong station in Pretoria. (@MedixGauteng via Twitter)

Cape Town - Around 17 rescue vehicles are on the scene of a train accident in Pretoria, while a helicopter has been dispatched to help the critically injured driver still trapped inside.

Two passenger trains collided at Kalafong station on Thursday morning.

Around 20 people were injured in the collision, Metrorail’s spokesperson Lillian Mofokeng told News24, with Chris Botha of Netcare 911 estimating the number at closer to 70.

"Reports from the scene are that the trains collided at around 07:20 near Church Street in Pretoria. Both trains derailed," Botha said.

Emergency personnel were working to free a trapped driver, Tshwane emergency services spokesperson Johan Pieterse told eNCA.

"At this moment we are unsure if the driver is still alive," Mofokeng told News24.

The line between Cor Delfos and Saulsville has been closed due to the accident

- News24

Trains collide in Pretoria

Pretoria - Several people were injured when two trains collided on the railway line between Cor Delfos and Saulsville, near Pretoria, on Thursday morning, Tshwane emergency services said.

Spokesman Johan Pieterse said one of the trains was stationary on the track when it was hit by the other.

“A few people were seriously injured, and the driver of the one of the trains was critically injured. He is still trapped inside the train,” Pieterse said.

“People should be advised that the line between Cor Delfos and Saulsville has been completely closed due to the accident,” he said.

He could not say how many people were injured and said more information would be available later in the day.

- Sapa/IOL

Train wreckage ‘no threat to environment’

Photo: Shaun Ryan and Flint Govender)

Transnet has assured residents in Amanzimtoti that the wreckage of a goods train that plunged into a river yesterday poses no threat to the environment.

An investigator from Jo'burg went to the area to assess the situation at the accident scene and to determine whether it's safe enough to start removing the wreckage.

The goods train plunged into the Amanzimtoti River yesterday morning, following torrential rains across the province.

Emergency services said the heavy rain and rising water levels caused part of the railway line to slide into the water.

Transnets's Selby Dlamini says a carriage, which was carrying timber, is still lying in the water.

Dlamini says repairs to the railway line will only get underway after the train is removed.

- East Coast Radio

Train plunges into river in Kwazulu Natal

The scene near Durban after a goods train plunged into the Amanzimtoti River. (Netcare 911)

Durban - Four people were injured when a goods train plunged into the Amanzimtoti River near Durban on Tuesday, KwaZulu-Natal emergency workers said.

"The raging river has eroded the sand from under the train tracks, causing the train to plunge several metres into the torrent waters," said Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha.

Paramedics arrived at the scene to find the four train staff members severely traumatised, cold and wet.

"After they were stabilised on scene, medics transported them to the Netcare Kingsway hospital for the care that they required," he said.

- SAPA/News24

Amanzimtoti train derails due to heavy rain and flash flooding

Image: Netcare911 (Click on image for larger view.)

Train ploughs into school bus in Egypt, 50 killed

Relatives of victims look at the wreckage of a bus after a train (L), with bloodstains, crashed into it at Manflot in the southern city of Assuit, 500 km (310 miles) south of Cairo. Image by: STRINGER / REUTERS

Fifty people, mostly children, were killed when a train slammed into a school bus as it crossed tracks in a city south of Cairo on Saturday, state media and officials said.

All but two of the dead were children, aged around four to eight, said a senior security official in Assiut, near the site.

One woman and the bus driver also died, he added.

The bus was broken in half by the force of the crash. Blood was spattered on the front of the engine and school bags and text books, some bloodstained, were strewn around.

Witnesses said barriers at the rail crossing were open when the train hit the bus. Transport Minister Mohamed Rashad and the head of the railways authority resigned, and President Mohamed Mursi said those responsible would be held to account.

Egypt’s roads and railways have a poor safety record and Egyptians have long complained that successive governments have failed to enforce even basic safeguards, leading to a string of deadly crashes.

State media reported that as well as 50 dead, 15 or more people were injured. A medical source said as many as 28 were injured, 27 of them children.

“They told us the barriers were open when the bus crossed the tracks and the train collided with it,” said Mohamed Samir, a doctor at Assiut hospital where the injured were taken, citing witness accounts.

Assiut Governor Yahya Keshk also said the crossing was open.

“The crossing worker was asleep. He has been detained,” he told state television.

Scene of mutilation

The doctor said the bodies of many of those killed were severely mutilated, illustrating the force of the crash, which took place in the city of Manfalut, near Assiut, about 300 km (190 miles) south of the capital.

“I saw the train collide with the bus and push it about 1 km (half a mile) along the track,” said Ahmed Youssef, a driver.

Officials said the level of destruction and mutilation made it difficult to count and identify the bodies.

President Mursi ordered his ministers to offer support to the families of those killed, the official news agency said.

Prime Minister Hisham Kandil ordered investigations into anyone responsible for the crash and travelled to the scene.

Victims’ families protested at the crash site, the state news agency reported. Officials sought to reassure them the case would be investigated and they would receive help, it said.

Earlier this month, at least three Egyptians were killed and more than 30 injured in a train crash in Fayoum, another city south of Cairo. In July, 15 people were injured in Giza, close to the capital, when a train derailed.

Egypt’s worst train disaster was in 2002 when a fire ripped through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train, killing at least 360 people.

Many more have been killed in rail accidents since then despite pledges from successive governments to improve safety.

Accidents involving multiple deaths are also common on Egypt’s poor road network.

- Times Live

Train Accident in Egypt on Sunday, 11 November, 2012 at 05:38 (05:38 AM) UTC.

At least three Egyptians were killed and over 30 people injured in a train crash in Fayoum on Saturday, when a train travelling south from Cairo hit another heading in the opposite direction, Fayoum's city governor, security and medical sources said. Ahmed Ali Ahmed, governor of the city of Fayoum, situated 91 kilometres (57 miles) south of Cairo, told the Al Jazeera Mubashar Misr news channel three people were killed in the crash. "A criminal investigation has been launched to find out the reasons that led to the accident," Ahmed said. However, a security and a medical source in Fayoum said the toll was higher. "The rescue operation is still ongoing and it is still too early to have a final number for the deaths and casualties," the security source said.

- RSOE EDIS

Man Loses Control OF Car And Crashes Into Train

A man believed to be in his late twenties has sustained moderate injuries after losing control of his car on the R28 between Krugersdorp and Randfontein and collided with a train this morning.

ER24 paramedics from Johannesburg West arrived on the scene and found the light motor vehicle off to the side of the tracks with extensive damage to the vehicle. The driver was found outside of the vehicle. The patient was assessed and found he had pains to his back and neck region. He was stabilised on scene and transported to a nearby hospital for further medical care.

It is believed that the driver veered off the road after avoiding a collision with another vehicle on the R28. The necessary authorities were on the scene and would investigate the accident further.

- ER24

Man Struck By Train In Critical Condition

A man believed to be in his late fifties is in a critical condition after been struck by a train while walking on the railway lines near Northdale in Pietermaritzburg this afternoon.

ER24 paramedics were called to the scene by members of the public and found the man just off to the side of the track and in a very critical condition. Paramedics assessed him and found he had sustained very traumatic injuries to his right arm from the shoulder down. Advanced Life Support intervention was performed on the patient before he was transported to Grey’s Hospital for further medical care.

It is believed that the man was walking with a friend along the tracks when the incident occurred. The necessary authorities were on the scene and would investigate the incident further.

- ER24

Soweto train crash investigation report released

Photo: Independent Newspapers

By Nthambeleni Gabara

Johannesburg - The Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) on Friday released its long awaited investigation report on the Metrorail Soweto train crash that left 857 commuters injured.

Last year, on May 19, a speeding train travelling between Mzimhlophe and Phomolong in Soweto en route from Johannesburg to Naledi, collided with a stationary Soweto Business Express train after sustaining a rolling stock failure.

The report fingered the train driver, who was fired by Metrorail shortly after the crash, as a high risk individual with a history of speeding.

Briefing reporters, chairperson of the Board of Inquiry, Dr Chris Dutton, said the risk profile of the train driver indicates a prevalence of over speeding incidents in August and November 2009 as well as March 2011.

"The driver risk profile also shows that in June 2005, the driver did not sign off for duty, in August 2010, he refused a lawful instruction, while in September 2010, he was responsible for a train delay and in March 2011, he was late for duty.

"Our conclusion is that the driver is a high risk and if disciplinary hearings were applied properly, the driver would have been fired before the fatal crash," he said.

In terms of Passenger Rail Agency South Africa (PRASA) disciplinary procedure, the process resulted with the driver receiving three previous over speeding sanctions from September 2009 to April 2011, two of which resulted in six months warning and the last one a 12 month warning.

"The accident in November 2009 should have resulted in a 12 month warning, while the accident in April 2011 would have been sufficient to take the driver off the footplate. These points to a substandard process with the (disciplinary) procedure," he said.

According to Dutton, the weather on the day of the accident was cool as there was no cloud cover or any other natural restriction of vision of signals.

He said all signals were visible and their location was not confusing to the driver, however, he said the horizontal alignment of the section of line between signal 934 of the speeding train and the rear end of the stationary train was in a cutting and a curve such that the driver would have limited vision to the rear end of the stationary train.

Dutton said analysis from the data logger on the speeding train showed the signals were passed at speed and no attempt was made to stop. The train driver exceeded the 30 km/h speed restriction.

He said one of the three lines where the accident occurred, which he referred to as the up slow line, was closed in December 2010 due to flood damage.

Dutton maintained that if the line was available, the stationary train would have been routed onto the up slow line and the crash may not have happened.

As the train is reported to have been overcrowded, Dutton said overcrowding was not conducive to safe running of trains.

The report also singled out a communication break-down as another area of concern as train drivers resort to using their cellphones as a result of the regular equipment failure in the trunking radio.

Metrorail provides train drivers with R200 worth of airtime to communicate with their Train Control Officers, however they indicated that the airtime was not enough resulting in them using messages instead of voice communication.

According to the report, the train driver of the stationery train was also to blame for the accident as he did not report the failure of the train to the Train Control officer; instead he wasted time phoning another driver and technical control.

"The act of not reporting directly to the Train control Officer when normal train operations are interrupted is a substandard act.

"Should the correct procedure have been followed the Train control Officer may have had the opportunity to inform the driver of the train of the prevailing circumstances which may have averted the accident," said Dutton.

In June this year, PRASA boss, Lucky Montana said they were planning to buy thousands of new trains - with most manufactured locally - and was refurbishing old coaches, while revamping and modernising stations and signaling.

Briefing the National Council of Provinces' (NCOP) select committee on public services, Montana said a preferred bidder for the building of new passenger coaches would be announced in November and he expected the new train sets to be running in 2014.

- SAnews.gov.za

‘Poor management’ caused Soweto train crash

ROSEBANK - An investigation into a May 2011 Soweto train crash has revealed the driver was considered a "high risk" individual.

The Railway Safety Regulator revealed its findings into the accident at a media briefing in Rosebank, Johannesburg, on Friday.

It said at the time of the accident, the driver had already faced a number of disciplinary hearings for several misdemeanours, including speeding.
More than 800 people were injured when the train travelling from Johannesburg to Naledi, in Soweto, collided with a stationary train.

In a damning report, investigator Chris Dutton said Metrorail’s poor management was to blame for the accident.

“Management’s lack of intervention to speedily respond to asset [management] failure is questionable”

Dutton said it made no sense why the driver was allowed to drive a train after he proved to be a “high risk”.

The regulator also fingered Metrorail’s ageing infrastructure as one of the factors that contributed to the crash.

The train driver has since been fired.

- EWN

Motorist killed by train in Stanger

A man has died after the car he was traveling in was hit by a train near Stanger on the North Coast.

Reports from the scene at eTete suggest the motorist tried to drive across a level crossing when the train slammed into his vehicle about an hour ago.

Emergency personnel at the scene say the R102, which crosses the train tracks, is littered with debris from the wreckage.

Netcare911's Chris Botha says the man tragically died on scene.

"The train struck the vehicle on the side, splitting the car in two and breaking parts of the vehicle off.

"We arrived on scene here and unfortunately the driver had sustained very, very critical injuries."

Railway officials as well as the police are on scene. They are expected to investigate the incident.

- East Coast Radio News

India train fire kills 25 in Andhra Pradesh

At least 25 people have been killed in a fire on a passenger train travelling in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, officials say.

One coach of the Tamil Nadu Express travelling to Chennai from Delhi caught fire early on Monday. The cause of the fire is still not clear.

Officials said the death toll could rise further as there were 72 passengers in the affected coach.

The incident happened as the train was passing through Nellore station.

Nellore is located 500km (310 miles) south of Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh.

B Sridhar, head of the Nellore district administration, told the BBC that 22 passengers travelling in the coach had been injured and taken to local hospitals.

He said an electrical short circuit could have led to the fire, and that most of the passengers were asleep when the incident happened at 04:20 local time.

The affected coach was completely gutted and rescue teams had to break in using special equipment.

Accidents are common on the state-owned Indian railways, an immense network connecting every corner of the country.

It operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day.

- BBC

Impatient Passengers Blamed for Egypt Train Crash

Bystanders gather around a derailed train in Badrashin in Giza, Egypt, Tuesday, July 17, 2012. An Egyptian security official said angry passengers fed-up with waiting on their train to move put rocks and logs on the railway Monday, forcing a speeding train to crash into another one, leaving cars overturned and several injured. (AP Photo/ Mohammed Asad)

Egyptian passengers fed up with waiting for their train to move put logs and rocks on the rails of a nearby track, causing two other trains to collide on Tuesday, an Egyptian security official said. At least four people were injured.

The security official said some of the passengers in Giza, Cairo's twin city, were enraged that they had to wait for more than 30 minutes on their train to allow another train to pass. Some of the restless passengers placed logs and rocks on the rails of the track of the other train that was holding theirs up. When the speeding train approached, the debris caused it to sideswipe another train. Three cars of the fast-moving train overturned.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The Health Ministry said at least four people were injured, according to the state-run news agency MENA.

Since last year's uprising, there have been numerous protests staged by train passengers demanding better services as well as strikes by railway employees demanding higher wages, often delaying trains for hours and sometimes days.

In January, state-run newspapers reported that 1,720 trains had been delayed because of the protests. Most Egyptians cannot afford air travel, which is also limited to cities with airports, and the country's roads are poorly paved and dangerous, making trains a popular option.

The railway system has a poor safety record that has long been blamed on badly maintained equipment and poor management. Egypt's worst railway disaster took place in February 2002 when a train heading to southern Egypt caught fire, killing more than 370 people.

In August 2006, a passenger train barreling toward a station collided with a second train, killing around 60 people.

- ABC NEWS

Train crash: Body parts strewn over 200m

Johannesburg - Emergency personnel are having a difficult time counting the number of dead at an Mpumalanga level crossing accident because body parts were ripped apart and strewn over 200m, police said on Friday.

The accident happened when a coal train ploughed into a truck carrying farmworkers at a level crossing near Hectorspruit.

At least 20 people were killed. A spokesperson for Mpumalanga’s community safety department told AFP it appears that more than 30 people were killed.

"It is a very gruesome scene. Some bodies are without heads and some without limbs. Forensic teams are still working on the scene," police spokesperson Joseph Mabusa said.

The truck was carried 200 metres by the impact, leaving body parts in its wake and making it hard for forensic experts to say how many people were killed, he added.

"The driver was taken to hospital. His condition is unknown. It's difficult to say what happened but at this stage it seems that the truck miscalculated as it was crossing the railway line."

Emergency services said at least 24 other people were injured, some of them critically.

State rail operator Transnet said the train was carrying coal for export to Mozambique, but there was no derailment. The coal was destined for the Indian Ocean port of Maputo.


- Reuters/News24

Images of the train accident between Hectorspruit and Malelane via @Halo_Aviation

Train vs truck, Hectorspruit, Mpumalanga. Some Patients being airlifted to hospital.

HALO 2 on scene trains vs truck, Hectorspruit. Multiple casualties.

Ticketless passenger hit by train

A man was critically injured when he was struck by a train while fleeing from security guards at the Longdale Station in Johannesburg late last night.

The cause of the accident and the series of events leading up to it remain uncertain and will form the subject of a South African Police Force investigation.

Common cause information suggests that the man had been on the run after it was discovered he did not have a ticket. In an effort to evade his pursuers, he ran into the path of a coach train and was hit by it. The force of impact saw him flung into a barbed wire fence at the trackside.

Netcare911 Paramedics arrived at the scene to find the man in a critical condition, having sustained multi-system traumatic injuries. He was rapidly stabilised at the scene and transported by ambulance to the Helen Joseph State Hospital.

Jeffrey Wicks
Media Liaison Officer - Gauteng
Netcare Limited

Two killed as train crashes into car

The incident took place around 19:30 on Saturday evening, where a light motor vehicle was crossing over the train tracks into Hotazel and was crashed into by a train. Four men around the age of 30 had been traveling in the light motor vehicle at the time of the collision.

Paramedics were quickly dispatched to the scene, a remote location just outside of Hotazel. One man had already died on the scene due to extensive injuries, while the remaining three occupants of the vehicle were rushed to a nearby site clinic for further stabilisation. A second patient then died as a result of his injuries, despite all efforts by paramedics and the clinic staff, nothing could change the man`s condition and he was declared dead. The two surviving victims were then transported to hospitals in and around Kathu where they will receive further medical care.

Authorities will determine all necessary details for the cause leading up to the fatal collision.

- ER24