More work needed to further improve railway safety, regular says
The Railway Safety Regulator's (RSR's) latest data shows a 9.9% year-on-year decrease in total railway occurrences, including operational occurrences and security-related incidents, to 8 288 in 2025/26, from 9 200 in 2024/25.
This represents the third consecutive year of improvement and the lowest number of occurrences recorded in five years.
“Despite year-on-year improvements, we need to do a lot more to address these challenges,” RSR CEO Brian Monakali noted during a media briefing and panel discussion on October 7. He stated that the sector would not improve further if it did not have robust discussions.
The report also shows a 27% year-on-year decrease in derailments to 246.
“This is 14% below the five-year average and indicates a notable improvement in operational safety,” said Monakali.
Security-related occurrences fell to 5 710, representing an 11.2% year-on-year decrease and a 33.9% reduction over the past three years.
Theft of railway assets declined by 10.2%, while vandalism decreased by 15.1%.
However, despite the overall decline in railway occurrences, fatalities increased by 25.9%, rising from 139 to 175.
“Sadly, members of the public accounted for 95.4% of all fatalities, highlighting the interaction between the railway and the public as the industry's greatest safety challenge,” stressed Monakali.
These fatalities are attributed to to a combination of factors some of which are not in direct control of operators.
“Passenger injuries were concentrated at the platform-train interface and in other areas where passengers interact directly with moving trains and station infrastructure,” he added.
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