Pretoria - Following an investigation into the cause of Wednesday's train accident where a Rovos Rail Train derailed in Pretoria, the Railway Safety Regulator has in terms of the National Railway Safety Regulator Act, 2002 (Act 16 of 2002) issued an improvement directive to both Rovos Rail and Transnet Freight Rail.
Three people were killed and scores injured when the train, travelling between Cape Town and Pretoria, derailed between Centurion and the Pretoria station.
Both Rovos Rail and Transnet Freight Rail are expected to provide written evidence of how they have implemented the required safety procedures within seven days.
"This directive is premised on the finding that certain mandatory procedures that should have been taken prior to the uncoupling of the locomotives were not observed," the Regulator said.
The directive demands that both Rovos Rail and Transnet Freight Rail implement procedures that ensure that the roles and responsibilities for the handover of the load from one operator to the other are clearly defined.
"The directive also demands that both Rovos Rail and Transnet Freight Rail ensure that such procedures ensure that the train brake is applied when the train is staged, that sufficient number of handbrakes are applied and, that scotches are applied when the train is staged on a gradient.
"This also includes that the procedures must further ensure that the train brakes are not released until a locomotive has fully coupled to the load," added the Regulator.
