Thirsty travellers rushed off a Prasa-operated train to get to the taps at Stutterheim station after they had stopped for hours in drought-stricken Burgersdorp and then again “in a forest” outside Cathcart yesterday.
No access to water or food was provided during the lengthy stop and the toilets stopped flushing, passengers said.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) confirmed the incident, and said it had been caused by a train being forced to wait after another train had gone through a signal without authority.
Because there was no backup water supply on the train, the five-hour delay resulted in its water supply running out.
Frantic passenger and East London teacher Sbulele Hloma, 43, speaking on her cellphone in a carriage, said scores of children were screaming and suffering from diarrhoea after they ran out of their own water supplies.
She said passengers brought extra water, but when the journey back home to East London from Johannesburg went seven hours over it time in sweltering heat, that too ran out.
She said the train had stopped in Burgersdorp at 7am and only got going at 11am yesterday.
Agri Eastern Cape president Dougie Stern said yesterday that the North Eastern Cape area was being hit by a three-day heat wave and that Burgersdorp was among the worst hit with dams drying up.
Hloma said the train suddenly stopped in a forest outside Cathcart face to face with another train. The two trains stood for a long time.
At 4.20pm she told the Dispatch: “We have no water. The kids are crying. We have no food. We are hungry. The toilets don’t flush. There is a lot of faeces. They said we would arrive in East London at 9am but we got stuck in Burgersdorp from 7am to 11am. They said we have to wait for another train to pass us. We are in the middle of nowhere, in a forest, and they are not telling us anything.”
Children were heard crying and adults yelling in the background.
“We have six kids and no water. We brought five litres with us in Johannesburg but that is now all gone.
“We did not expect to be on the train for so long,” she said.
When the train that was bound for Burgersdorp and Cape Town finally went past and her train finally arrived at the next station of Stutterheim, there was chaos.
Some passengers abandoned the train saying they would rather take a taxi home.
“We are in Stutterheim and the train is still not moving.”
Hloma estimated that there were 15 carriages attached to the locomotive.
Prasa spokesman Mthura Swartz said the train had been delayed by five hours after an “unauthorised movement by another train which passed a signal.
“When this happens, for the safety of passengers and operations, trains have to travel to certain points through manual operations.”
This caused the delay in Burgersdorp. Then when it reached the point beyond Cathcart, another train approaching from East London hit a cow causing a “major delay and damage to pipes on the locomotives. Engineers had to go and fix it.”
The two trains had to pass at a loop outside Cathcart because “it is a single line”.
Asked why passengers ran out of water he said: “The issue of water is simple. The capacity of the water tanks in the trains are calculated on normal circumstances. There is no backup water.”
“A delay of five hours means water will run out and there are no facilities between Burgersdorp and East London for the tanks to be filled.”
“This is one of the unintended outcomes of having these kinds of delays.”
Similarly, the capacity of septic tanks was also a victim of the delay.
“A train is meant to be on the road for 18 hours and you add five hours to make it 23 hours and there are no facilities to empty (septic) tanks.
“It is an unfortunate outcome caused by the delay.”
He said this was a high-peak period train and was filled to between 600 to 1200 passengers, but most would disembark at Queenstown.
“We also have fewer locomotives to pull the train, so these are the unintended consequences.”
lSwartz confirmed a similar scenario last Thursday when passengers were forced to abandon a train outside Queenstown.
“We are investigating and taking disciplinary action due to negligence on the part of our staff.”
He said that someone had not checked the level of the diesel tank in a train’s power car, which runs lights and water pumps, and when the tank ran out the train became a health and safety hazard and had to stop.
A passenger on the Queenstown train, Thabang Maseko, wrote on Facebook: “Passengers travelling with from Johannesburg to East London decided to get off the railway and seek transport on the road.”
No water for thirsty train passengers
No access to water or food was provided during the lengthy stop and the toilets stopped flushing, passengers said.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) confirmed the incident, and said it had been caused by a train being forced to wait after another train had gone through a signal without authority.
Because there was no backup water supply on the train, the five-hour delay resulted in its water supply running out.
Frantic passenger and East London teacher Sbulele Hloma, 43, speaking on her cellphone in a carriage, said scores of children were screaming and suffering from diarrhoea after they ran out of their own water supplies.
She said passengers brought extra water, but when the journey back home to East London from Johannesburg went seven hours over it time in sweltering heat, that too ran out.
She said the train had stopped in Burgersdorp at 7am and only got going at 11am yesterday.
Agri Eastern Cape president Dougie Stern said yesterday that the North Eastern Cape area was being hit by a three-day heat wave and that Burgersdorp was among the worst hit with dams drying up.
Hloma said the train suddenly stopped in a forest outside Cathcart face to face with another train. The two trains stood for a long time.
At 4.20pm she told the Dispatch: “We have no water. The kids are crying. We have no food. We are hungry. The toilets don’t flush. There is a lot of faeces. They said we would arrive in East London at 9am but we got stuck in Burgersdorp from 7am to 11am. They said we have to wait for another train to pass us. We are in the middle of nowhere, in a forest, and they are not telling us anything.”
Children were heard crying and adults yelling in the background.
“We have six kids and no water. We brought five litres with us in Johannesburg but that is now all gone.
“We did not expect to be on the train for so long,” she said.
When the train that was bound for Burgersdorp and Cape Town finally went past and her train finally arrived at the next station of Stutterheim, there was chaos.
Some passengers abandoned the train saying they would rather take a taxi home.
“We are in Stutterheim and the train is still not moving.”
Hloma estimated that there were 15 carriages attached to the locomotive.
Prasa spokesman Mthura Swartz said the train had been delayed by five hours after an “unauthorised movement by another train which passed a signal.
“When this happens, for the safety of passengers and operations, trains have to travel to certain points through manual operations.”
This caused the delay in Burgersdorp. Then when it reached the point beyond Cathcart, another train approaching from East London hit a cow causing a “major delay and damage to pipes on the locomotives. Engineers had to go and fix it.”
The two trains had to pass at a loop outside Cathcart because “it is a single line”.
Asked why passengers ran out of water he said: “The issue of water is simple. The capacity of the water tanks in the trains are calculated on normal circumstances. There is no backup water.”
“A delay of five hours means water will run out and there are no facilities between Burgersdorp and East London for the tanks to be filled.”
“This is one of the unintended outcomes of having these kinds of delays.”
Similarly, the capacity of septic tanks was also a victim of the delay.
“A train is meant to be on the road for 18 hours and you add five hours to make it 23 hours and there are no facilities to empty (septic) tanks.
“It is an unfortunate outcome caused by the delay.”
He said this was a high-peak period train and was filled to between 600 to 1200 passengers, but most would disembark at Queenstown.
“We also have fewer locomotives to pull the train, so these are the unintended consequences.”
lSwartz confirmed a similar scenario last Thursday when passengers were forced to abandon a train outside Queenstown.
“We are investigating and taking disciplinary action due to negligence on the part of our staff.”
He said that someone had not checked the level of the diesel tank in a train’s power car, which runs lights and water pumps, and when the tank ran out the train became a health and safety hazard and had to stop.
A passenger on the Queenstown train, Thabang Maseko, wrote on Facebook: “Passengers travelling with from Johannesburg to East London decided to get off the railway and seek transport on the road.”
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