The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has launched an investigation to determine what caused a steel footbridge to collapse in Jeppestown, Johannesburg, causing injuries to two people.

The rail agency has confirmed it was aware of the incident and that it had launched an investigation after the footbridge collapsed between Jeppestown and George Goch stations on the Germiston to Johannesburg line.

In a statement, a Prasa spokesperson said they urgently deployed technical teams and activated the Joint Operations Committee as soon as the incident happened.

“Regrettably, two pedestrians are reported to be injured and taken to a nearby hospital.

“A team of Prasa engineers and senior management are currently on site to assess the extent of the damage.

“An investigation into what led to the collapse of the footbridge will be established”.

The incident comes as the rail agency recently recovered the line and ran test trains when the bridge collapsed.

It said the Germiston to Johannesburg railway line is part of the 16 corridors prioritised for rebuilding and recovery in this financial year.

Prasa said it was commending the swift responses from their security team, Joburg Metro Police, and other emergency services.

The collapse is understood to have caused disruptions to the train service.

The Joburg Emergency Services also confirmed the injured has been taken to hospital.

Meanwhile, in an earlier IOL report, Councillor Mgcini Tshwaku, who is the public safety MMC, said the collapsed bridge was old and they had described such structures as "disasters waiting to happen” in an earlier meeting on the same day.

He said members of the public had previously complained that the bridge was unsafe.

"There is also a lot of criminal activities that happen at that bridge. There were also reports that the bridge had started tilting, and reports were sent to Prasa," he said.

IOL

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Prasa investigating what caused the steel footbridge collapse in Joburg