Johannesburg- Investigations are underway, following the collision of two trains outside Soshanguve train station.
The recent accident happened exactly a week after the trains that were reportedly new to operate in the Pretoria to Mabopane route, began operations.
According to reports, these two trains collided in the early hours of Monday.
This is the same route where President Cyril Ramaphosa got stuck in a train in 2019 and as a result, a programme to upgrade the infrastructure and implement necessary refurbishments was introduced in 2020, with R1.4 billion allocation for the purpose.
The identified glitch has forced the Department of Transport to take a few steps back to scrutinize their trains.
According to the Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula, a technical glitch is what led to the collision, and they are busy investigating further on it.
“A train enroute to Mabopane station experienced technical fault outside Soshanguve station on Monday morning at approximately 05:30 am.
The technical team upon attending to the fault by uncoupling the set experienced a roll back of the set onto the other causing a collision. (Not a train on another train collision) The train set had 8 staff members and no commuters at the time of the incident. Investigation of the incident is underway. Metrorail train services are not affected, and no further delays are expected,” Mbalula wrote on Twitter.
THREAD: A train enroute to Mabopane station experienced technical fault outside Soshanguve station this morning at approximately 05:30 am.
Train services are not affected and no further delays are expected. pic.twitter.com/2ME1JPyzc4
— FIKILE MBALULA | MR FIX (@MbalulaFikile) January 24, 2022
The new trains are ready to hit the tracks on the Pretoria to Mabopane line on Monday morning, 17th JANUARY 2022@PRASA_Group @MbalulaFikile @metrorailgp pic.twitter.com/ZK7x5wHayW
— Department of Transport (@Dotransport) January 15, 2022
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here
