SA rail system on track for 2010
11 October 2005
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe has expressed confidence that South Africa's rail system will be able to cope with the influx of soccer fans for the 2010 World Cup.
Radebe was addressing the 15th Annual International Railway Safety Conference in Somerset West in the Western Cape on Monday.
The South African government, he said, had put in place several measures to ensure that the country's rail system would be ready and safe for local and international visitors.
These include the establishment of the National Rail Safety Regulator, with sufficient authority to enforce safety requirements.
"By 2007 we will also have 5 000 railway police patrolling our railway system," Radebe said. The first group from the new Railway Police Unit has been deployed in the Western Cape.
"We must expect to see increased numbers of trains and services and passengers taking advantage of a world-class, rail-based public transport system in the
future," Radebe said.
Initiatives such as the Gautrain were part of SA's 2010 preparations, he said. The Gautrain will transport commuters between Johannesburg and Tshwane in 40 minutes, helping ease traffic congestion between the two cities.
Referring to rail safety, the minister said the number of level-crossing accidents were "unacceptable". So, too, were the high numbers of people struck by trains on running lines: 582 people in 2003/4 and 455 in 2004/5.
"Painfully, some of these were suicide cases, but the majority are people either walking alongside railway lines or attempting to cross where they should not," he said.
These incidents, the minister said, would be addressed through community and school awareness programmes, more adequate footbridge facilities and fencing.
Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin told the conference that the government was embarking on a drive to strengthen infrastructure, the railways in particular.
"The 2010
tournament will place huge demands on our transportation infrastructure and its smooth and safe operations," he said.
Erwin said the government had committed "considerable funding" to upgrading and improving the passenger transportation system.
The two-day conference is being hosted by state rail company Spoornet.
Source: BuaNews
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