METRORAIL & FENCING
Posted on 13 November 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
Railway operators should be forced to fence off railway lines properly near residential areas, says Cape Town mayoral committee member for social development Grant Pascoe.
He has written to minister of transport Sibusiso Ndebele, asking him for legislation requiring railway operators to provide fencing and make them more vandal-resistant.
In 2007, 227 people died on railway tracks across the country – 80 of them in Cape Town. The situation cannot be allowed to continue, Pascoe says, despite pedestrians putting themselves at risk by using illegal crossing points
Metrorail says most deaths are due to people crossing lines illegally, but those who live near unfenced tracks say they fear for their safety.
The four Metrorail tracks at New Rest, Guguletu, separate the township from Heideveld where a majority of New Rest children go to school. In the early morning, hundreds of Heideveld High School children cross the tracks. They say the alternative route is too far away.
Pupil Sikho Ndlazulwana told a Cape Argus reporter that his seven-year-old sister had died while crossing the tracks on 17 December 2008 but “the Metrorail people said it wasn’t their problem, that there was a sign that says ‘no crossing’, and we should talk to our government about it.”
[ Good to see the word “pupil” still exists. We thought “learner” had knocked it out of existence. – editor
Related posts:
- METRORAIL FENCING PROBLEMS
- FATAL METRORAIL STABBING
- CROSSING COLLISION KILLS SEVEN
- HEADPHONE BOY KILLED BY TRAIN
- METRORAIL STRIKE FIZZLES
- METRORAIL BREAKDOWN: TRAIN PELTED WITH ROCKS
- WESTERN CAPE METRORAIL STRIKE
