Who is responsible for railway accidents?

By Andrew Masinde                       

Alfred Alore, 43, an employee of telecom giant MTN died on the spot at the Old Port Bell crossing in Bugolobi after being hit by a train.

The incident happened in March this year.

Then, an eyewitness said the helmet Alore was wearing before the crash might have prevented him from hearing the train’s hooting.

Earlier, last year, a 33-year-old security guard attached to Saracen Security Group was hit by a train in similar manner – only he was not killed.

Stephen Mwanamusa was on his way to his workplace (Makerere University) but never made it there. He lost both his hands and sustained several injuries. A family man, the accident left him incapable of fending for his family.

Like these two men, many other Ugandans have lost either their lives or body parts in railway accidents, leaving their dependents to bear heavily the brunt.

Emmanuel Muhairwe, an assistant commissioner of police and commandant of railway police, says there is an average of at least two to three people knocked by trains across Uganda.

"Trains move at a very slow speed so I wonder how a train can knock them,” he says. “That's why if someone is knocked by a train, they are implicated for having knocked the train – it comes slowly hooting so people need to become serious.”

‘People are impatient’
 

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Vigilance is a must when at a road-railway crossing. (Credit: Wilfred Sanya)

A stroll along the railway line from Mukwano in the city centre to Bweyogerere in Wakiso district revealed a number of factors that could cause railway accidents.

There are over six crossing points for vehicles: only one crossing road at Mukwano has a railway traffic guide and a boom to stop the vehicles to give way for an oncoming train.

Also, there are many crossing points which have no signposts – even at the busy areas like Nakawa and Kireka, a railway traffic guide is absent.

At Mbuya railway crossing, just after the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) offices, vehicles and people cross even when the train is approaching.

Jackson Kiberu has been working along the Mbuya railway line for some time and has witnessed several train accidents. "It was in the afternoon when a train came hooting. The commuter taxi fully loaded with passengers struggled to cross the railway line and the tyres got stuck in the rails and it was crushed.”

He adds: “It was ripped into two parts and many more accidents have happened because people are never patient. I request government to put for us railway traffic guides in this area because many accidents have happened here.”
 

Here, East African Rift valley traffic  warden Charles Kwizera communicates with an advancing train about to cross the road. (Credit: Wilfred Sanya)

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As the train approaches in the distant, Kwizera waves vehicles on the road to a stop. (Credit: Wilfred Sanya)


 

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At this point, all flow on the road is brought to a halt as the train crosses. (Credit: Wilfred Sanya)

Muhairwe says there are many factors that lead to train accidents.

“People today do not mind about the railway transport guidelines. People see signposts on the railway sides but they do not mind reading them or to find out what they mean – this is because some drivers never went to driving school.”

He points out more irresponsibility on the part of the locals.

“Many people these days do not care about their lives; you find someone has earphones listening to loud music or radio on their phones and they are crossing the railway lines. Others are talking on phone and they do not pay attention to what is happening on the road and the railway.

“That's why they end up being knocked by trains,” he reasons, before also directing blame to motorists.

“Some drivers blast music in their vehicles; others completely pull up their car windows and turn on ACs (air conditioners), which blocks them from hearing the train hoots.”

Quite often, Muhairwe adds, drivers create traffic jam on the crossing points without being mindful of the likelihood of a train approaching any time.

“People need to be serious,” he emphasizes.

How to avoid such accidents

According to Muhairwe, people should always read the signposts. “When you find a post with a big letter ‘W’ this means there is a feeder road crossing the railway line. The big ‘X’ means it's a highway crossing the railway line.

The signpost with smoke billowing out of a train means keep your speed low because a train could be coming.
 

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He also advises drivers and pedestrians to always stop at a reasonable distance of at least 10 metres, and look on both sides before crossing the line. People should also avoid walking along railway lines “because a train can get you at a point where you cannot run way”.

Also, drivers should always respect the railway traffic officers: "We discovered that some people are stopped but they drive off because they think they are wasting their time yet it's for their safety”, explains Muhairwe.

“We have received so many cases of drivers complaining that we blocked the roads with the boom making them to knock. The boom is to stop vehicles such that the train passes without causing any accident, instead people don't wait and they end up knocking the booms.”

In some areas, vendors have gone as far as selling their stuff on the railway line, trusting that they can be quick enough to clear out of an advancing train’s path.

One such place is Banda market. Here, vendors wait for the trains to hoot before they can shift their goods from the rails.

So with such attitude among both drivers, pedestrians and others, it’s clear to reason who really is responsible for deaths or injuries on the rails.