Pressure on Transnet moves derailed train

4 August 2022

A DA exposé of Transnet’s failure to remove a train wreckage near Warrenton, more than six months after it derailed, finally got the wheels of the state-owned enterprise turning.

A subsequent oversight inspection to the site of the freight train wreckage last week, by myself and DA Magareng councillor, Willem Potgieter, showed that the wreckage of sixteen freight cars had finally been removed. See before pics here,  here and here after pics here, here and here.

At the time of the accident, the carts were carrying grain. Prolonged failure by Transnet to contain the site resulted in the grain and other removable items being plundered. This is evidence of just how neglected the rail system in the Northern Cape is.

The DA will continue to monitor the situation and we hope to see the still usable carts re-railed and back in operation soon. The country’s remaining rail infrastructure must be protected, if the country ever hopes to make a successful transition back from road to rail.

Issued by Dirk Stubbe, Constituency Head of Diamond North, 4 August 2022