Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) recorded a 65% decrease in the cost of railway occurrences and security incidents during the 2011/12 financial year, Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) manager for safety analysis Kenny Makgati revealed on Tuesday.

Speaking at the RSR's yearly Rail Safety Conference in Johannesburg, he said the 'State of Safety' report found that TFR’s cost of railway occurrences decreased from R942.2-million during 2010/11, to R228.6-million a year later.

This was mostly attributed to a significant drop in the costs incurred during level crossing collisions from R816.3-million in 2010/11, to R148.1-million in 2011/12 – a four-year low.

Despite overall industry derailments reducing by 11% during the year to 798, the cost of derailments recorded by TFR rose from R25.4-million in the prior year, to R53.5-million in 2011/12.

The cost of collisions to the operator, however, reduced to R620 000 during the past year, from R3-million in 2010/11.

The report showed that theft and vandalism of TFR assets, which included cable theft, decreased significantly from R68.2-million in 2010/11, to R19.2-million in the year under review, while the cost of fires on its trains fell slightly to R7.11-million during the 2011/12 financial year, from R8.6-million in the prior year.

PRASA RAILWAY-OCCURENCE COSTS UP

Meanwhile, railway occurrences cost the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) R203.2-million during the 2011/12 financial year – a 65% increase compared with the R124.8-million recorded in the prior year.

The largest contributor to the higher occurrence spend was train fires, the cost of which rose from R64.6-million in the prior year, to R126.2-million in 2011/12.

The cost of asset theft and vandalism to Prasa during the period declined from R15.1-million to R9.1-million, while the cost of derailments reached R6.1-million, a decrease from the R19.3-million recorded in the 2010/11 financial year.

The cost of collisions reached R61-million during the year under review – almost triple that of the R24.4-million recorded during the prior year.

In total, 860 railway collisions, 20 of which were between trains, were reported across the industry during the year under review – a 0.92% decline compared with the 868 collisions recorded in 2010/11.

The cost of level crossing incidents added R600 000 to Prasa’s bill, up from R200 000 in 2010/11.

Prasa and TFR, the two largest operators, accounted for 84% of the total number of incidents and occurrences within the rail sector. Other operators included tourism, cross border, mine surface, port rail, municipal sidings and service lines and several private siding operators.

The RSR reported that the number of injuries reported during the period as a result of operational or security incidents rose significantly during the year to 2 375, from the 1 737 reported in the prior year.

The number of fatalities – mostly civilians being struck by trains – fell slightly from 487 in 2010/11, to 425 in 2011/12.

Gauteng reported the highest number of incidents, accounting for 65% of the injuries and 31% of the fatalities reported, followed by the Western Cape contributing 30% of the fatalities and 15% of the injuries, and KwaZulu-Natal with 26% of the reported fatalities and 16% of the reported injuries.

The Northern Cape reported zero fatalities or injuries during the period under review, while the Eastern Cape accounted for 5% of the fatalities and 1% of the total injuries.

The Free State accounted for 1% each of the fatalities and injuries, while Limpopo contributed 1% of the fatalities, but no injuries were reported. Mpumalanga and the North West each accounted for 3% of the fatalities and 1% of the injuries reported.