Lerato Mbhiza
Two people were injured, one seriously, when a bridge straddling a railway line in Jeppestown, belonging to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) collapsed on Wednesday.
Train services between Johannesburg and Germiston have been suspended due to the incident and the City of Joburg’s MMC for Public Safety, Mgcini Tshwaku, said the structure is old and used by many passengers between 4pm and 6pm.
Tshwaku said if the bridge had collapsed when a train had been passing through, the impact would have been worse.
“There were two injuries. It is possible that one person’s ankle could be amputated because (part of) the bridge fell onto his leg,” he said
“We need to check what happened, why there was no maintenance done, and who was responsible,” he added
Prasa has confirmed that it was aware of an incident where two people have been injured after a steel footbridge collapsed between the Jeppestown and George Goch train stations.
Prasa spokesperson, Andiswa Makhanda, said an investigation will be conducted into what led to the collapse of the footbridge.
“Prasa has deployed its technical team and activated the Joint Operations Committee (JOC) as soon as the incident happened,” she said.
“A team of PRASA Engineers and senior management are currently on site to assess the extent of the damage.”
Prasa had recently recovered the line and was running test trains when the bridge collapsed.
The Germiston to Johannesburg line is part of the 16 corridors prioritised for rebuilding and recovery in this financial year.
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