DA ward councillor Simon Lapping, left, and Kempton Park resident Ashika Pillay demand accountability for another life lost. Picture: Drew Kaas Yesterday, yet another young woman was killed after being struck by a commuter train in Kempton Park. It occurred at almost the exact same spot that a teenager died in a similar incident 13 months ago.
This despite commitments from Transport Minister Barbara Creecy in December that Prasa and Transnet would be engaged and held to account over unprotected railway lines, after her department confirmed that remedial plans were being demanded from rail entities following the first fatality. The fatality occurred along the Germiston-Pretoria commuter rail line, a stretch of track infrastructure that has repeatedly been flagged by community members and DA ward councillor Simon Lapping as dangerously unsecured. The Citizenreported on the incident at the time, following which the department of transport confirmed that the railway safety regulator had already submitted a response to the department and that Prasa was expected to provide a corrective plan.
More than a year later, the stretch of railway line remains unsecured. The site is adjacent to an incomplete boundary wall that runs alongside the railway tracks, leaving pedestrians with direct access to an active rail line. The half-built wall forms part of Transnet’s rehabilitation programme in the area, which has remained unfinished for several years.
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Lapping drew eerie similarities between the two incidents. “Both were young women, both had earphones in their ears, they probably did not notice the oncoming danger,” he said.
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