Metrorail is planning to take legal action and seek compensation from motorists who unsafely navigate level crossings.
|||Metrorail is planning to put in a boom system, complete with flashing warning lights at Rocky Bay on the KZN south coast to prevent further train accidents at the crossing.
Spokeswoman Thandi Mkhize, said the robots would be automatically activated when a train reached a certain point on the track.
Metrorail’s risk manager Hubert Luvalo warned that when the boom system became operational, people should not “take a chance” and drive around the boom gates when a train was approaching.
He made the announcement when he visited Rocky Bay level crossing on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, Metrorail’s most high-risk level crossing where three people were killed in two accidents with trains in 2009.
Luvalo’s visit last Thursday – International Level Crossing Day – came just days after five friends escaped with their lives when their bakkie was wrecked at the crossing after colliding with a passenger train.
And just hours before Luvalo and a Metrorail team visited the scene, another driver had a close encounter with a moving train at the same level crossing when he allegedly got too near the track and his vehicle’s bumper was ripped off. He was uninjured.
If people disobeyed the warnings once the system was operational, Metrorail might seek advice from prosecutors about laying criminal charges, said Mkhize.
The gravel road leading to the crossing has been tarred and a warning sign has been posted on the R102 before the turn-off to the crossing.
The possibility of installing CCTV cameras is also being considered.
Meanwhile, the driver of the wrecked bakkie Dinesh Ramphul, 32, claimed Metrorail was “directly responsible” for the accident
in which his uninsured Isuzu double cab (which he relies on for his work as a tiler) was written off.
But Metrorail has vehemntly denied this, saying the bakkie hit the side of the train.
Ramphul said that according to a witness Praveen Sulagen, who was behind him that night – the train had been damaged at the front.
Ramphul and friends, from Riverside Park, uMzinto, were on their way to Rocky Bay for a braai when the accident happened. Ramphul was knocked unconscious by the impact and sustained head injuries.
Nashon Sagadaven, 22, who was seated behind the front passenger seat, sustained a broken leg and is in Port Shepstone Regional Hospital, where he will have a metal rod inserted into his leg.
Of the other passengers,
Anand Maharaj and Leon Kisten received head and body injuries, while Pregasen Soobramoney suffered abdominal injuries.
All five said they had not seen the approaching train or any light on it. They also said they had not heard a warning hooter.
Ramphul said that had the train’s lights been on and the robots been operational, the accident could have been avoided.
The Metrorail team vehemently denied that the train would have been travelling without a light on.
“It is critical for safety,” Mkhize said. The train driver would also have hooted and slowed down as he approached the level crossing as that was the protocol.
Scottburgh detectives and Metrorail are conducting investigations into the accident.
Metrorail apparently conducts regular awareness campaigns at Rocky Bay, reminding the public about safe behaviour on crossings. During peak holiday periods, flagmen are posted at the crossing to warn holidaymakers about the presence of the level crossing.
In Retreat, Cape Town, a surveillance system has been installed at the White Road level crossing to monitor drivers who break the law. The Western Cape Transport Department said fines would be imposed, starting at R500, for failure to stop. If booms were ignored, drivers could face charges of reckless or negligent driving.
The new boom system is the latest improvement at the crossing, where Jadro Jevich,72, and his wife, Dawn, 62, were killed when their Mercedes Benz was involved in an accident with a train in 2009 and where 14-year-old Elisha Pillay, a pedestrian, was killed a month earlier.
Luvalo said the number of incidents involving motorists who smashed into their trains was a concern.
“We have never pressed charges against people who damage our rolling stock before, but in the future I will take advice from our insurers and legal department about the chances of prosecuting drivers,” Luvalo said.
“The train will never leave the track. People hit us and we get the blame. But this is a railroad and we have the right of way. People must be vigilant,” he said. - Daily News