Deadly Kroonstad crash blamed on truck driver

Deputy Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga revealed the findings of the report in Sandton on Friday. 

The 18 coach train collided with the trailer of an articulated truck in January.

The train was departing from the Bloemfontein Station and was heading to Kroonstad at the time of the crash.

“The truck driver did not stop at the compulsory stop sign and did not observe the oncoming train when he was required to do so. The truck driver proceeded across the railway line while the train was approaching,” said Chikunga.

The crash claimed the lives of 24 people and left 240 others injured.

The report findings have also revealed that the train was travelling at 78 km/h when train collision took place.

“The train driver did not apply any brakes prior to the collision. Soon thereafter, a fire arose from the overheard cabling equipment which was still powered and came into contact with the coaches thereby burning five coaches, from the exterior into the interior of the said coaches,” added Chikunga.

The report further shows that the 3kV DC overhead track equipment did not switch off or detect the fault during the collision, subsequently causing the fire.

The heat generated by the arcing onto the exterior of the coaches caused the interior to catch fire.

The deputy minister said there were various other factors which contributed to the fatalities.

These include:

• The unavailability of adequate emergency exists in the coaches
• The lack of fire resistant material to the coaches, which caught fire on contact with arcing overhead equipment, allowed the fore to propagate in the coaches.
• The ineffectiveness of firefighting equipment on the train during the accident.
• Lack of emergency training for the train staff and
• No emergency briefing of the passengers as they embarked the train at the start of the journey.

 

The RSR has recommended that PRASA apply both short and long-term solutions to prevent a similar incident in future.