Engineering News — December 08, 2017

R

ail safety performance monitoring

organisation the Railway Safety

Regulator (RSR) released its

yearly railway safety report last month,

which reveals that reported operational

incidents for railways in South Africa

decreased by 5%, while safety-related

incidents increased by 13% during

2 016 /17.

Operational incidents comprise those

resulting from operating rail infrastructure

and could be factors such as collisions

with objects, animals or people; electric

shocks; derailments; fires resulting from

an operational cause (for example,

electrical); and incidents arising from the

platform-train interface.

Safety-related incidents cover all

reported incidents associated primarily

with crime, and include factors such as

equipment and infrastructure theft; arson;

malicious damage to property; train

hijacking; and personal safety on trains,

stations and rail-related infrastructure

(yards, sidings and depots), as well as

industrial action and crowd-related

incidents.

The organisation reports that 98%

of operators complied with reporting

requirements, in line with the RSR Act.

This represents a significant increase in

the degree of compliance from the 2010/11

reporting period, which experienced a

43.8% submission of occurrence reports.

Operational incidents for the 2016/17

reporting period are at a seven-year low,

at 4 066 incidents, down from 4 250

during the previous period. The RSR

notes with caution the “continued and

increasing” theft of overhead electric

cables or signalling infrastructure,

which results in irregular train operations,

thereby increasing the risk of operational

occurrences such as collisions and

derailments.

Safety-related incidents rose markedly

to 6 379, from 5 520 during the previous

period. The theft of assets constitutes

69% of all safety-related incidents, and

more than 52% of such incidents occur

in the Transnet environment.

Meanwhile, State-owned commuter

rail service the Passenger Rail Agency of

South Africa bears the brunt of vandalism,

particularly arson. To combat this, the

South African Police Service’s Rapid

Rail Police (RRP) units have increased

visibility, with the number of arrests

involving people contravening the law

within the rail environment also

increasing. In this regard, 169 firearms

were confiscated and about 7.6 t of cables

was recovered through RRP operations

in the period under review.

The most alarming figures were a

27% increase in the number of incidents

reported at level crossings, which rose

from 87 in the 2015/16 period to 119 in the

2016/17 period. Also rising significantly

were occurrences of people being struck

by trains in the 2016/17 period, which

increased from 541 in 2015/16 to 651 in

2016/17, representing an increase of 17%.

A total of 495 fatalities, resulting

from operational and security-related

incidents, was recorded, in addition to

2 079 injuries during the 2016/17 period.

In this regard, fatalities increased by 8%,

while injuries decreased by 10% during

the period.

Speaking at the release of the results,

RSR research GM Cornel Malan said

the fatalities in the 2016/17 reporting

period were alarming: “It is almost two

people dying each day!”

Further, the provincial distribution

of operational occurrences mirrors that

of the 2015/16 period, with Gauteng

representing 29%, KwaZulu-Natal 27%

and the Western Cape 19%. Malan

pointed out that these three provinces

had high occurrence figures as a result

of their high population densities, as

more people came into contact with

trains and railways.

The RSR also reports that, although a

“general improvement” in some figures

has been recorded, there has been no

progress in reducing the number of some

types of occurrences. The number of

level-crossing occurrences, people being

struck by trains, occurrences in which

people travel outside the train (train

surfing) and electric shocks have all

increased during the 2016/17 period.

The RSR issued 257 new permits

for railway operators during the period

under review.

certain enforcements in a smart

contract never reach it? What if someone

suppresses an event if it is likely to increase

liabilities, reduce asset values or cause

margin calls? How can the system ensure

that someone owns a physical asset in the

real world even if the person’s ownership

of the corresponding digital asset inside a

blockchain is verified?”

To combat potential fraud, the likely

fraud triggers, loopholes and design

workarounds for each use case must be

addressed. These could be in the form of

vulnerability or conformance testing of

contract code, certifying data and event

sources as well as determining suitability

of delivery channels.

“Evaluate the speed and accuracy of

alternative event sources, such as from

regulators, participants (through code of

conduct enforcement) and public sources

to determine the resolution of verification

processes and the associated risks,” says

Subramanian.

New Functions for Old Institutions

Current thinking regarding blockchain is

that banks and other nodes connected to

blockchain networks will perform their

own screening “at the gates” where value

enters and leaves the blockchain networks,

and that regulators are totally separated

from this flow, says Subramanian.

“However, in future, a case could

be made for regulators to be part of

blockchain networks, performing all

these screening functions on behalf of

other participants. This could significantly

bring down the cost of screening and other

functions, leading to real savings in the

cost of fulfilling payment transactions.

Similarly, in settlement, today’s powerful

intermediaries are likely to find some

niche role for themselves in blockchain

networks as well.”

One could argue that such regulators

would be ‘interceptors’, not ‘interme-

diaries’, and they would continue to

add value to blockchain networks by

removing the need for replication of

functions and investments across network

participants.

“Their power might be reduced, as

they may not be able to exert power by

withholding information from others,

given that blockchains promote data

transparency, but they are likely to

continue to add value,” he concludes.

40 ENGINEERING NEWS | December 8–14, 2017 LO

NEWS&INSIGHT

RAIL SAFETY

Safety Report

Rail operator incidents decrease, safety incidents increase

• From page 19

ENGINEERING NEWS COUPON ON PAGE 42 E472396

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DYLAN SLATER | CREAMER MEDIA STAFF WRITER