By Delisa Thwala
Eswatini Railways (ESR) has officially launched the Annual Railway Safety Week from October 9 – 13, 2024 under the theme ‘Always expect a train, be safe’
The commemorative week’s beginning was marked by the Breakfast Media and stakeholder launch held at Royal Villas on Monday.
ESR Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nixon Dlamini said the Railway Safety Week was an annual event commemorated in October by all members of the Southern African Railways Association (SARA), a SADC organ for advancing development, efficiency, and safety in railway operations.
Dlamini mentioned that the commemoration seeks member operators to collaborate with all key stakeholders under a common mutually agreed theme to enhance awareness of railway safety.
The CEO stated that at the 1st SARA Board of Directors Meeting of 2019, held on June 19, in Harare, Zimbabwe, it was resolved and agreed that the member operations shall commemorate railway safety for a week in October every year.
“The commemoration seeks member operators to collaborate with all key stakeholders under a mutually agreed theme to enhance awareness on railway safety,” he said.
He mentioned that the Board resolution for SARA to commemorate the Railway Safety Week annually was made as a means of enhancing awareness campaigns on safety.
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He said, more importantly, it was also meant to ensure joint regional advocacy for railway safety practices and conformity to the agreed SADC or SARA Railway Safety Standards.
“The commemoration further seeks to promote an integrated awareness towards railway safety and some of the target stakeholders include government ministries, law enforcement, community leadership structures, compliance or regulatory organizations, business partners, and other stakeholders working closely with railways operations,” he said.
He also stated that the theme for this year takes railway safety back to basics, where every individual in society needs to display an attitude and behaviour that indicates their value of personal safety and those of others.
The CEO stated that more than 50 per cent of railway incidents were influenced by attitudes and perceptions, for instance, a motor vehicle driver may rush to cross a level crossing first before the train, even though they can see the approaching train.
“Such attitudes do not only influence personal behaviour towards safety but significantly contribute to an unsafe community and societal safety culture towards railway operations,” he said.
He explained that this year’s theme therefore was a call for all members of society to model attitudes that would shape the new railway safety culture.
Dlamini said the activities that had been planned as part of the commemoration this week were targeting influencing human behaviour through attitude change.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Public Works and Transport Principal Secretary Thulani Mkhaliphi said it was encouraging to note that the Southern African Railways Association (SARA) had taken a resolution to commemorate railway safety annually.
He said this was a means of creating awareness among railways employees, motorists, general members of the public and other stakeholders about the importance of safe operations, safe interaction with the railway track and how they can join hands in strengthening the overall safety of the railways in the region.
Mkhaliphi stated that rail transportation was an essential part of the economy of the Kingdom of Eswatini and safety was paramount for all transportation modes.
“Our government is committed to ensuring the safety and security of our transportation system rail included,” he said.
The PS said the government had prioritized infrastructure development and had in recent years invested millions of Emalangeni towards the preparation for the construction of the Eswatini Rail Link Project.
He stated that in the past 24 months, they had seen a safe and successful relocation program implementation.
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“Eswatini Railways has demonstrated a safety culture through the implementation of the internationally recognized safety standard ISO 45001 and SANS 3000-1 (Railway Safety Management Standard) and this has been manifested by the improved rail safety record of the organization over the years,” he said.
The PS said it was encouraging to note that operationally there had not been a fatality among the employees of the organization since December 2015, a record that is not common in such a dangerous industry.
