By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Passenger rail services have resumed between Mabopane and Pretoria after a two-year absence, much to the delight of commuters.
Prasa and Metrorail closed the Mabopane railway station and line for refurbishing, and it was later announced that it will be reopened before the end of November, for the resumption of services but that did not materialise.
Prasa regional manager Richard Walker said there were currently 12 new trains in operation, but only for commercial off-peak services.
He said they would be making a submission to the regulator by the end of this week.
Walker hopes 16 new trainsets will be in service by mid-year.
“At the end of this week, we’ll be with the regulator so we can get full commercial operating licences.”
The new trains are fitted with security cameras, shatterproof windows and other safety features.
On Monday, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula conducted an oversight visit onboard one of the new, so-called ‘people’s trains’ in Cape Town.
People’s trains were first unveiled in 2017 as part of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA’s modernisation programme of railways.
Mbalula said the department will be prioritising two railway lines on the Cape Flats. In July last year, Athlone train station was gutted by a fire.
The railway line has also been a home for many homeless people.
“However there are two stations of great concern that will be upgraded as part of the national station improvement programme and are both in the Cape Flats. These are Athlone and Maitland stations,” said Mbalula.
Mbalula added that the majority of railway lines in the south and northern lines, are in fairly good conditions.
“The central line consists of 21 stations and the Ikapa area has ten stations. All 38 stations on the southern line are in good operating condition requiring minor maintenance work.
“The vast majority of stations on the northern line where we come from before we arrived, which is Tygerberg and the other area we went to are in a fair condition and this corridor has been a focus of Prasa station improvement programme.
“Out of the 34 stations, five of these stations have suffered extreme vandalism and are in a bad state of repair.”
During a Parliament Q&A session last year,Mbalula told his colleagues that Prasa would be deploying 5 000 guards sourced through private security providers during November to safeguard the railways infrastructure.
He said that other additional measures to improve security at the station was the construction of concrete walls along the identified corridors.”The wall will be impenetrable, the material to be used will provide extra strength with a height of 4 metres, reinforced with an electric fence.
“Prasa has put in place a detailed recovery plan aimed at rehabilitating and replacing stolen and vandalised infrastructure, including replacement of stolen overhead traction equipment, signalling, substations and stations,” the minister said.
Meanwhile most commuters said its is a big relief, especially to those that are going to seek for employment and school pupils who are travelling to town daily.
“A big thank you to the department of transport and the entire Prasa team.”
Covid-19 protocols were observed, with passengers wearing masks and maintaining a 2m distance between them in the morning.