CAPE TOWN, April 27 (Xinhua) - South African Members of Parliament (MPs) on Friday urged an immediate proble into the country's collapsing rail systems following a traffic accident that killed seven people.
The Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) should speedily determine how the frequent and high-counting accidents involving trains and vehicles could be put to a stop, Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Transport said.
A bakkie collided with a train in Cape Town on Friday morning, killing seven people. The accident happened at the same level-crossing where a similar accident occurred in 2010, in which 10 school children died.
"Today seven people have also lost their lives, this calls for action. Two accidents on similar circumstances taking so many lives necessitate action," Committee Chairperson Dikeledi Magadzi said.
Agencies within the Department of Transport must move to ensure that such a similar accident does not reoccur, said Magadzi.
"This accident speaks to the need to urgently address the maintenance of rail systems especially in the Western Cape, but also generally throughout the country," Magadzi said.
"Our systems are collapsing and putting at risk so many lives," she added.
She urged the RSR to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of this kind of carnage exactly in the same spot, only a few years apart.
The public also need to be vigilant as they cross railways, obey the rules and satisfy themselves that there are no oncoming trains, Magadzi said.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said the victims of Friday morning's accident were all in their 30s and it's believed they were on their way to work.
"The circumstances of the accident are still being investigated," he said.
