The South African Railway Safety Regulator’s (RSR’s) ‘State of Safety’ report for 2011/12 found that 354 fatalities, out of 412 operational fatalities, occurred as a result of people being hit by trains, with the remainder comprising suicides, operational incidents or safety-related incidents.

Speaking at the RSR’s yearly Safety Conference, in Johan-nesburg, in March, RSR safety assurance manager Kenny Makgati said there were 534 occurrences where people were hit during the movement of trains.

This is a 4.98% decrease, compared with the 562 occurrences recorded during 2010/11. Of the 534 occurrences, 354 people were killed and 183 injured.

“More than 95% of these occur- rences were instances where a member of the public was hit by rolling stock on a running line – the highest number of fatalities recorded for all occurrences,” Makgati noted.

Although the number of fatalities, as a result of people being hit by trains, decreased by ten people in 2011/12 to 354, from 364 fatalities in 2010/11, the incidence of people entering the rail reserve without permission – and then ultimately being hit by a train – is a serious challenge for the RSR.

The regulator believes that this is the result of a lack of coordinated planning between municipalities and railway operators, inadequate town planning and the prevalence of human settle- ments in the vicinity of the railway reserve, coupled with inadequate fencing and the absence of safe places for crossing railway lines.

“An additional underlying cause of this is that the rail reserve is open in nature and it is, therefore, difficult to prevent people from entering,” he said, adding that these factors are what ultimately increase the risk of people living adjacent to the railway line being hit by trains.

Of all incidents within the rail sector in 2011/12, 84% were accounted for by State-owned utilities Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and Transnet.

Gauteng reported the highest number of incidents, accounting for 65% of the injuries and 31% of the fatalities reported, which was followed by the Western Cape, with 15% of the injuries and 30% of the fatalities reported.

Further, KwaZulu-Natal recorded 16% of the injuries and 26% of the fatalities reported, while the Western Cape recorded 15% of the injuries and 30% of the fatalities reported.

Besides people being struck by trains in 2011/12, other major incidents included 798 reported derailments, 305 running-line derailments and 448 rolling stock derailments on lines other than running lines, level-crossing incidents, and 868 incidents of trains colliding with obstructions on running lines and 20 incidents of collisions between trains.

Meanwhile, the RSR reported 5 720 security-related incidents involving theft and vandalism of assets and incidents that impact on the security of persons in the rail environment.

The highest number of these incidents was the 3 639 incidents of theft of assets impacting on operational safety, which includes cable theft. This was followed by 1 091 incidents of malicious damage to property or vandalism, 353 threats to personal safety on trains, 236 incidents impacting on personal safety on platforms and 285 incidents of personal safety being threatened at stations.

The RSR noted that security incidents continued to pose a threat to the safety of people and assets in the industry – such incidents placed increased pressure on a system that was already constrained, while the incidents of theft and vandalism placed immense pressure on maintenance.

During 2011/12, human factors contributed much to the root cause of railway-related incidents. To this end, the RSR published the Human Factors Management Standard, which addresses individual, organisational and job factors that could improve the safety of railway operations.

The regulator published the standard during 2012 to improve and reduce the impact of the human factor in incidents that occur within the rail sector.

Also speaking at the conference, Transport Deputy Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said the Department of Transport (DoT) was pleased to see that the RSR was delivering on its mandate in that it had ensured that the major rail operators were able to reduce derailments by 11% and collisions between trains and road vehicles by 26.6%.

She added that government’s primary role was to ensure that all South Africans were safe and secure on trains, that train operators adhered to their responsibilities, and that the checks and balances within the rail operating environment were working.

“The DoT believes that the principles on which the regulation of railway safety in South Africa are based are sound, as they promote and provide for the safety of the public and personnel, and the protection of property and the environment, while also encouraging the collaboration and participation of interested parties in improving rail safety,” Chikunga noted.