Question NW455 to the Minister of Transport

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13 March 2018 - NW455

Profile picture: De Freitas, Mr MS

De Freitas, Mr MS to ask the Minister of Transport

With reference to the fatal train crash at the Geldenhuys Train Station in Germiston on 9 January 2018, (a) how often was the signalling system (i) tested and (ii) maintained (aa) in the (aaa) 2014-15, (bbb) 2015-16 and (ccc) 2016-17 financial year and (bb) since 1 April 2017 and (b)(i) what were the results of each test respectively and (ii) what action was taken in each case?

Reply:

a) Signalling system:

i & ii) On a monthly basis job cards are issued for maintenance and during the maintenance execution the correspondence tests are conducted. The cycle for both testing and maintenance is 3 monthly and 6 monthly based on the type of sub-system. This is referred to as Planned Maintenance. The region did not capture the information on planned maintenance prior to 2017 calendar year. This has been rectified and maintenance job cards are now captured on the Infrastructure Maintenance system. Breakdowns or unplanned maintenance was captured.

aa)

aaa) 2014-15: The standard report from the Infrastructure Maintenance system is provided in calendar years and only the last three years’ information is active.

bbb) 2015 (January to December 2015)

The region did not capture the information on planned maintenance prior to 2017 calendar year. This has been rectified and maintenance job cards are now captured on the Infrastructure Maintenance system. Breakdowns or unplanned maintenance was captured.

ccc) 2016 (January to December 2016)

The region did not capture the information on planned maintenance prior to 2017 calendar year. This has been rectified and maintenance job cards are now captured on the Infrastructure Maintenance system. Breakdowns or unplanned maintenance was captured.

bb) 2017 (January to December 2017)

b) (i) When correspondence tests are conducted as part of routine maintenance as per above maintenance frequencies and there are defects detected during the tests, those defects are attended to and in cases where they cannot be rectified immediately, the train control office is informed immediately just like it was informed during theft of more than 100 meters of various signalling cables at Geldenhuys during the festive season 2017.

Furthermore the Section between Cleveland and Driehoek has been under construction over the past year. The construction work was aimed at replacement of an obsolete signalling system with the latest technology. The new signalling system at Geldenhuys was fully tested and commissioned on 30 November 2017. Due to recurrence of cable theft during the festive season, the new signalling system was then affected and hence manual train authorization was introduced as part of the contingency plan for train working.

ii) Records of the results of tests and actions are kept at the depot level and are not captured on the system. There are plans to capture this on the Maintenance system going forward.

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