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Tragic Train Accident in South Africa

Cape Town-bound train no. 3208 didn`t make its destination today. The government owned Metrorail train crashed into a truck on a railroad crossing near the Eerste River station outside Faure, about 25 km (15.5 miles) east of Cape Town. At the time of the collision, 07:16 AM, the truck was packed with 30 workers from a local wine farm in Somerset West. 19 persons were killed and 11 more were injured, 3 of which are in critical condition.

Railway security officials said after a preliminary that their investigations indicate that it was the truck driver who has been the cause for the accident. Evidence gathered at the seen shows that the truck driver ignored the caution signs. The railroad crossing was properly signed and held to all legal requirements although a barrier hasn`t been placed at the crossing.

The South African press has been dealing with this tragedy continuously since the accident happened. Luckily, none of the railway passengers were injured in the accident, excluding 6 passengers who were treated for light wounds and freed right away. The train line has been stopped temporarily and is expected to resume shortly. The South African train company, Metrorail manages most of the commuter train line traffic in the country -- 370 kilometers of a total network of 1,150 kilometers of railway and 478 stations. has invested millions of dollars to upgrade the country`s extensive neglected infrastructure and obsolete equipment of the 100-year-old passenger railway system. In 2003 an accident along the same railway line claimed the lives of ten people and injured scores of others.