Officials are trying to
establish the cause of a fire at Cape Town station that destroyed a number of
train units - leaving an estimated R30m cost of repair, Prasa said on Sunday.
"While the reasons
behind the fire are still sketchy, it is reported that one train arrived at the
station, at platform 15, with one of the coaches already on fire," Prasa
spokesperson Nana Zenani said in a statement.
She added, however, that
"other reports suggest that the train was set alight when passengers got
off the train when it arrived at the station".
The incident occurred on
Saturday afternoon. When the burning train, that had been travelling from
Muldersvlei, stopped - a stationary train at Platform 16 then also caught
alight.
Condemning the fire as
causing "senseless destruction," Zenani said seven coaches, as well
as two motor coaches and five trailers were completely destroyed.
"The estimated cost of
the damaged coaches is approximately R30m."
Zenani said it was
apparently three teenagers who spotted the fires and then alerted security as
passengers were still disembarking.
"Train guards, together
with security, tried to extinguish the fire, but at that time more coaches had
already caught fire including the one parked at platform 16."
No injuries were reported.
Chairperson of Prasa Board
of Control Khanyisile Kweyama said that while the board did not want to
"speculate" over the cause, the agency was "seriously concerned
about what appears to be a pattern of train fires in the Western Cape".
She said the latest incident
set Prasa back after they attempted to recover from previous incidents of train
vandalism.
Furthermore, Group CEO of
Prasa, Sibusiso Sithole, said that the agency had already been considering
deploying the new trains to Cape Town in order to bolster the "ageing
fleet".
However, concerns were now
raised as to "whether it will be wise to send our new trains down there
when the situation is still this volatile".
He said a team would be
sent to Cape Town to assess the situation.
Meanwhile, Siphesihle Dube,
the spokesperson for the MEC of Transport and Public Works Donald Grant, said
that the incident was "deeply regrettable".
"Minister Grant has
been briefed by Metrorail regional manager, Richard Walker, on this latest
incident and has offered assistance wherever possible.
"While it has yet to
be established whether or not arson was at play, it remains important that
Metrorail continues to prioritise security of the rail network in order to
prevent the frequency of attacks."
He added: "I am sure
the SAPS are currently working hard to determine the cause of the fire, and
that if there was wrongdoing by individuals seeking to destabilise the rail
network, that those individuals will be brought to justice."
Earlier Metrorail
spokesperson Riana Scott said that updates to commuter schedules for the week
ahead would be issued on Sunday afternoon.
Following the incident, the
United National Transport Union (UNTU) called on police minister Bheki Cele to
appoint a task team to investigate arson attacks on trains in Cape Town -
alleging that Saturday's incident was probably criminal.
"This is the fifth
time train coaches belonging to Prasa in the Western Cape have been torched
while it was approaching stations in recent months," said UNTU general
secretary Steve Harris - adding that in each case the modus operandi appeared to
be the same.
"More than a million
workers in the Western Cape rely on trains to get to and from work each
month," he noted.
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