Over a festive season that’s seen hundreds of people get killed on the road, one would expect the safest mode of transport to be rail. God forbid those expectations would be met.
A train travelling from Pretoria to Johannesburg partially derailed between the Elandsfontein and Isando stations just after 7AM. Emergency services report 17 people were injured, 2 of them seriously. The exact cause of the accident is unknown and if the previous train crash in Atteridgeville (also PTA) is anything to go by, we won’t know for at least another four months.
In South Africa, the most frequent users of Metrorail trains are the working class or unemployed class more commonly known as the poor. Let’s call them the underclass. These are the people that often draw the shortest straw when it comes to basic service delivery, efficient service from public officials and condescending remarks about their intelligence.
It’s funny how the Gautrain has never derailed, yet it continues to happen to Metrorail. However, it would be unfair not to recognise the serious infrastructure advantage the Gautrain has over the older Metrorail. To credit the state, the Public Rail Agency of South Africa, or PRASA is investing more than 300 million Rand into building new trains and upgrading others that are still in an okay-ish condition.
Back to the matter at hand. A train’s derailed and it hasn’t surprised many. Is this what we’ve come to expect for our buck? Sure sucks to be a taxpayer of late…
@van1go
GRASSROOTS 