Railway deaths rose 25.9% even as accidents fell to a five-year low
The Railway Safety Regulator's State of Safety Report 2025/26 records a third consecutive year of improvement in overall occurrences, but 175 people died and 95.4% of them were members of the public.
South Africa’s railway safety performance has improved for a third consecutive year, but fatalities rose and the rail-public interface remains the sector’s most dangerous ground, according to the Railway Safety Regulator’s State of Safety Report 2025/26.
Total railway occurrences fell 9.9%, from 9 200 in 2024/25 to 8 288 in 2025/26, the lowest number recorded in five years. Injuries declined by 14.8%, from 419 to 357.
RSR chief executive officer Brian Monakali welcomed the direction of travel but warned against reading a lower count as a safe railway. “The continued reduction in overall occurrences is encouraging and demonstrates that interventions across the railway sector are beginning to yield results,” he said in a statement. “However, fewer occurrences do not necessarily mean that the railway environment is safe enough. Our ultimate measure of success must be the prevention of fatalities and injuries.”
That measure went the wrong way. The report records 175 fatalities during the reporting period, a 25.9% increase on the previous year and 19.5% above the five-year average. Members of the public accounted for 95.4% of all fatalities. Seventy-six people were struck by trains, and 65 of the deaths involved bodies found within railway reserves.
Monakali said the figures placed responsibility beyond the operators. “The fatality figures are a stark reminder that railway safety is not solely the responsibility of railway operators. The overwhelming majority of fatalities involve members of the public, which means that we need a whole-of-society response. Government, operators, municipalities, law enforcement and communities must work together to change behaviour, secure railway corridors and protect lives,” he said.
Level crossings remain the clearest concentration of that risk. Occurrences at level crossings increased by 25.4% over the reporting period, with unsafe behaviour by road users continuing to contribute to collisions between trains and road vehicles.
The regulator has committed to strengthening collaboration with operators, road authorities and communities, backed by targeted public education, enforcement and engineering work at high-risk locations.
Theft and vandalism of critical railway infrastructure also remain significant threats. More than 5 700 security-related incidents were recorded, affecting signalling systems, telecommunications and overhead traction equipment. The report nonetheless records a 33.9% reduction in security-related occurrences over three years, a 10.2% decrease in theft of railway assets, and a 15.1% decline in malicious damage and vandalism.
Other indicators moved in the same positive direction. Derailments during the movement of rolling stock declined by 27%, from 337 to 246. Fires and explosions decreased by 24.4%, from 758 to 573.
For 2026/27, the RSR says it will focus its regulatory interventions on reducing fatalities along high-risk routes and at high-risk locations, strengthening the protection of railway reserves, improving level-crossing safety, and improving passenger safety at stations and at the platform-train interface. Its other stated priorities are supporting operators in accelerating signalling modernisation, protecting safety-critical infrastructure from theft and vandalism, strengthening maintenance compliance and asset management, improving interface management as rail reform brings additional operators into the system, and expanding public-awareness campaigns about behaviour around railway infrastructure.
The regulator says it will also tighten oversight through audits, inspections, occurrence investigations and the development and implementation of regulatory standards, while supporting infrastructure recovery and modernisation across the industry.
Monakali said the progress in the report gave the regulator confidence that improvement is possible, and placed a greater obligation on it to move faster. “The RSR remains committed to working with the entire sector to build a culture of safety, accountability and continuous improvement,” he said.
The RSR called on operators, infrastructure managers, all spheres of government, law-enforcement agencies and communities to intensify collaboration and address the risks at the rail-public interface.
This report is based on the RSR’s published summary of the State of Safety Report 2025/26 rather than the full document, which is available on the regulator’s website at www.rsr.org.za.
Source: SAnews (South African Government News Agency), SA’s railway safety improves, https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/sas-railway-safety-improves
