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The Portfolio Committee on Transport deliberated on the Railway Safety Bill [B 7-2021] yesterday and took into consideration all the submissions it received, written and verbal, from members of the public and stakeholders who attended public hearings at Parliament as well as those held in all the provinces, which gave South Africans an opportunity to express their views on the Bill.

During its deliberations on the Bill, the committee accepted most of the proposed draft amendments and elected to send some of the proposed amendments in the draft A-List back to the drafters for reconsideration and rewording where necessary.

The committee is of the view that the Rail Safety Regulator may establish consultative forums as needed. These forums would assist in ensuring consultations nationwide going forward with relevant stakeholders in all matters related to railway safety regulation.

Some stakeholders wanted the committee to consider how the Bill might assist in bringing train lines back into service. However, safe and reliable rail services can only be achieved when the operators of those services are held accountable and are regulated in their operation of these services.

The Bill seeks to set uniform standards and guidelines applicable nationally and expand some powers and functions of the Railway Safety Regulator, which must oversee the safety of railway transport nationally, while operators remain responsible for managing the safety of its operations.

There is no clause in the Bill that calls for rail services to be re-established in areas where they once ran, even though during public hearings on the Bill numerous calls were received to draft

such a clause. It is hoped that the White Paper on the National Rail Policy of 2022 will, through its guidance of the work done by the department’s Rail Programme and its impact in future legislation, lead to the expansion of rail services to all corners of the country.

In considering questions posed to the committee about whether the Bill addresses cable theft and vandalism, it must be noted that the Bill does not expressly address these criminal acts. It does, however, retain the fact that the prime responsibility and accountability for railway operations safety falls on railway operators. It further requires operators to report any incidents of theft, vandalism, collisions, deaths and/or injuries of staff, passengers or third parties to the regulator.

Railway operators must put safety measures in place, in close cooperation with law enforcement, to ensure their assets and railways are safe and theft and vandalism is prevented. The Bill then allows the Railway Safety Regulator to inspect these measures and ensure compliance; failure to comply may result in penalties imposed by the regulator.

Cooperation between rail operators and law enforcement is an ongoing process, boosted by the measures to regulate the scrap metal industry. Around the world, rail safety is a broader issue than just security, which remains the responsibility of the operator. However, the regulatory authority may require security measures to be put in place if they are closely linked to the safety measures that must be implemented to obtain and maintain a safety permit for continued operations.

By ensuring the regulation of rail safety, the Bill seeks to ensure that a safe and efficient rail service for both passenger and freight rail is the outcome when operators comply with the conditions of their safety permits. The cost of rail passenger and freight transport is outside the scope of the Bill. It remains policy that rail forms the backbone of passenger and freight transport in the drive to move from road to rail, by setting affordable pricing structures that will allow universal access to rail users.

The proposed Transport Economic Regulatory authority will deal with pricing aspects under its powers to enforce economic regulations. The aim is to ensure that domestic safety standards meet

international standards. Rail as a mode of public transport has always been cheaper and more efficient than other modes of mass transit, but safety standards must be upheld.

After the deliberations yesterday, the committee instructed that the draft A-List must be sent back to the drafters to be updated before it is reconsidered in the committee’s next meeting on the Bill.

Issued by Chairperson of The Portfolio Committee on Transport,  Mina Lesoma