Question NW2441 to the Minister of Transport
09 December 2021 - NW2441
Hunsinger, Dr CH to ask the Minister of Transport
(1)What is the current number of manual authorisations (MAs) served by the Railway Safety Regulator on rail sections owned by (a) the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and (b) Transnet respectively; (2) when looking at each of these sections being declared as an MA, (a) which 10 are the longest and most frequently found to be unsafe and (b) on what date was each of the specified sections mentioned for the first time?
Reply:
1. Railway Operators are required to report occurrences and incidents as prescribed by SANS 3000-1 by contacting the RSR Contact Centre, using the National Information Management System (NIMS) and a designated occurrence reporting email address. These occurrence statistics are reported and recorded to the RSR according to mandatory categories included in the South African National Standard on Railway Safety Management. These reportable categories operational occurrences and security incidents include derailments, collisions signals passed at danger, level crossing occurrences and security incidents such as theft and vandalism. Manual Train Authorisations are a daily procedural arrangement and are not reportable to the RSR. The RSR does not serve the authorisations, it is the Operator’s responsibility.
Safe train movement relies on the effective combination of all aspects of a railway system. Train control and communications systems play an important in this respect. Asset condition and maintenance faults also contribute to manual authorizations. That is, faulty signalling cables, defective rail, rail washaways or security violations like theft and vandalism of railway assets.
Manual train authorization is an accepted fallback method of train operations during abnormal conditions.
The required information can be obtained from the Operators.