Unpacking the 2020/2021 State of Railway Safety Report

In March this year Statistics South Africa released its survey on the different transport modes in South Africa. The impact of Covid-19 shows a 6.7 per cent decrease in rail freight while rail passenger journeys increased by 12.3 per cent . In May this year Minister Fikile Mbalula allocated an estimated 27 per cent — R57billion — of the department's budget to the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) in the medium term to improve dilapidated infrastructure and increase the number of operating trains. This panel discussion presents the 2020/2021 State of Railway Safety Report which shows a 19 per cent decrease eight per cent increase in the number of security related incidents in the railways.