BULAWAYO - Several passengers admitted to hospital after a train accident on Sunday night, blamed the poor communication system. The accident took place at Redbank near Nyamandlovu when the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) passenger train was headed for Victoria Falls. Scores of travellers sustained serious injuries but there were no fatalitieWitnesses said the train was forced to leave the railway line to avoid a head-on collision with a goods train leaving Redbank station on its way to Bulawayo.
“There was poor communication to regulate the movement of the two trains as the goods train was given a go ahead to proceed when the passenger train was almost at Redbank station. Usually, the goods train stops at Redbank to give way to the passenger train before proceeding. If the goods train had peaked on speed, we could be dealing with a fatal crash,” said an NRZ engineer.
The NRZ spokesperson, Fanuel Masikati, confirmed that there were no deaths, but would not be drawn to comment on whether poor communication networks were to blame for the accident.
The NRZ rail network relies on an outdated communication system. Sources said the railway only has a small stretch of centralised traffic control (CTC); a digitalised communications link that co-ordinates the movement of trains at intersections.
NRZ’s CTC system was said to have collapsed due to vandalism, cable thefts and lack of spares. Another problem was the emigration of technical personnel responsible for the repair of the equipment.
NRZ insiders said the entire rail network needed to be overhauled.
Post published in: World News