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Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says that a recently unveiled multifaceted security plan, based on internal contracting capacity, will make an invaluable contribution to fighting theft and vandalism of rail infrastructure.
Mbalula participated in a debate in the National Assembly on Tuesday, which focused on the impact that continued damage to public rail infrastructure has on the economic lives of the most vulnerable and poor commuters.
Incidents related to safety in the railway environment increased by 20% between 2017/18 and 2018/19 from 7,737 to 9,268.
Since 2012/13, safety-related incidents per million train kilometers increased by 175% per million train kilometers.
Theft and vandalism accounted for 88% of all security-related incidents in 2018/19.
“In addressing the pressing challenges impacting the livelihoods of the poor, who depend on the rail system for their mobility needs, we have sought to protect the passenger rail environment by enhancing passenger safety.
“The previous security agreement was based on a 100% outsourcing model and relied on private security companies. Despite the enormous cost, that intervention clearly did not achieve the desired results, ”Mbalula said.
A new security plan was recently unveiled and this plan is based on developing the necessary internal capacity and the ability to mitigate and combat theft and vandalism of rail infrastructure.
The plan prioritizes:
- Internal security capacity for armed response, control room operations, and increased number of physical security officers.
- An e-guarding solution has been introduced for the protection of mission-critical assets, including substations, relay rooms and sites for global mobile communication systems for the railway environment (GSM-R), with early warning security technology and defensive security systems.
- Specialized investigation services, with legal support and access to a criminal laboratory. This ability will help improve investigations and charges of offenders under the Criminal Matters Amendment Act 2015. Successful prosecution and sentencing of offenders could result in a prison term not to exceed 30 years or , in the case of a corporate body, a fine not to exceed R100. million.
- Remotely piloted aircraft systems, also known as drones, have been deployed to conduct virtual patrols of high-risk infrastructure. This capability will work in conjunction with specialized investigations and armed response.
“These interventions are not only security force multipliers, but also enablers that will make an invaluable contribution to improving security responses to theft and vandalism, and will also result in a significant reduction in crime statistics in the rail environment. .
“These will be complemented by the corridor wall, with the Mabopane corridor in Gauteng and the Central Line in Cape Town already in the procurement phase,” said Mbalula.
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