06 Jul 2021

The Botswana Railways (BR) passenger train 0501 derailment report will be released to the public once it has gone through the relevant government structures, according to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, acting chief public relations officer, Ms Oageletse Boapotswe. 

When responding to a questionnaire on whether the findings of the derailment inquiry would be made public, Ms Boapotswe explained that so far, the report had been shared with Cabinet and also tabled before Parliament in February. 

She expressed hope that the report would be debated during the ongoing Parliament sitting. 

Following the derailment, which occurred near Pallaroad and claimed the lives of two BR crew members, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Thulagano Segokgo appointed an eight-member board of enquiry to investigate circumstances that led to the incident. 

She said the board was required to compile a detailed report on what transpired and also come up with measures to help improve safety within the railway corporation and submit the report to the minister. 

The board of enquiry, Ms Boapotswe said, carried out its mandate successfully and submitted the report to the minister on May 20, 2020. 

She said one of the report’s key findings was that the derailment was caused by failure of the unsupported track, following wash-away, when the heavy locomotive, of 120 tonnes, moving at a relatively high-speed of 64 km/h, came into contact with it, at or near 464 kilometre peg. 

“The report also highlighted several contributory factors, which included, among others; failure by some top managers to heed professional engineering advice and the assessor’s decision to prevent the learner driver from applying the emergency brakes, as soon as she sighted the wash-away,” she added. 

Ms Boapotswe said the inquiry also unveiled that the level of disaster preparedness regarding circumstances of this nature was wanting, taking into account the number of people involved at the time, which was about 400, at night in circumstances of water or flooding. 

To improve safety within the railway corporation and curb similar incidents in the future, she said the board of enquiry recommended among others; the drawing of an implementation plan to address safety issues, entailing risk reduction and coming up with mitigation strategies to prevent future accidents, among others. 

She said the BR management had also been tasked to periodically update the permanent secretary and minister on action and status of the issues raised on the report. 

Ms Boapotswe said the derailment report also highlighted the importance of conducting internal safety audits and regular site inspections, to identify risks in advance and to be able to mitigate them, thus preventing accidents. 

She said BR was also urged to; intensify capacity building and awareness on safety, collaborate with all employees at various levels to embrace safety and reinforce compliance, have regular engagements with staff and board through various platforms to address concerns and get feedback to improve efficiency and monitor and evaluate safety programmes. 

Meanwhile, she said the movement of the BR passenger train remained suspended until further notice. Ends