Train smash: Transnet coal trains in devastating collision following ...

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A drone shot of the site of the derailment following a collision between two coal trains.

A collision between two coal freight trains on Sunday has again closed the export coal line to Richard's Bay in a setback to attempts by government and business to restore SA's failing logistics sector.

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) does not have a digitised train management system to track trains and relies on signalling and phone communication to schedule trains and manage their movement. Signalling equipment is frequently stolen, making phone communication between the train control operator and driver the only way of avoiding collisions. 

Initial and unconfirmed reports from inside Transnet indicate that Sunday's accident resulted from human error when a shift change failed to alert the incoming shift of a stopped train on the line. The train had stopped because of a power outage in Richard's Bay on the line ahead.