Johannesburg – Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) led the reopening of the Leralla to Germiston train service following three years of cable theft, vandalism, and destruction of infrastructure.
The train service to Germiston is one of 18 lines recently recovered by Prasa in its bid to recover from the vandalism that began in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said plans were also in motion to extend services from Germiston to Joburg.
She said the train service has six stops at six train stations.
“At the moment, the train stops at six stations. Prasa is making significant progress in rebuilding and refurbishing the rail infrastructure, she said. vandalised stations. Today Prasa has recovered 18 corridors, with seven corridors now operational in Gauteng with new electrical motor units, which we refer to as istimela sabantu,” she said.
According to Prasa, the agency has spent more than R2.1 billion restoring rail infrastructure in Gauteng province.
The minister said it has cost the agency R600 million to rehabilitate the line, which transports 10 000 people daily.
The rehabilitation includes overhead electrical cables that power the trains and substations that feed power to the network.
“Through Prasa's capital project, we will ensure that Prasa continues to invest in local communities and boost local economies by creating job opportunities, and we are pleased that 191 jobs were created in this project,” she said.
The minister said rail transport jobs were at the centre of the transportation industry and should be prioritised to ensure access to essential services.
She said the route, which has not been fully restored, was important for the industry as people relied on this mode of transport to get to and from work on a daily basis.
“Passenger rail is supposed to be the backbone of public transport in South Africa, so other modes of transport feed into this mode of transport so that the taxi industry will still have to board the taxi to the train stations and board the train. That is the relationship they should have, and that is what we are looking for,” Chikunga said.
She said some of the stations were still not operational and needed to be brought back into service.
“Some of the stations are still not operational, but the majority of them are indeed still being renovated, and we will be reopening them so that those stations can start being them,” she said.
She added that the signalling was still a problem, especially during peak hours both in the morning and in the afternoon.
She said as the department continues to rebuild the train infrastructure, they want to ensure the safety of workers and commuters.
“We want to ensure the safety of our people. At the moment, we can't run as many stations and as many trains as we would like, as this might lead to incidents. We are very happy that trains are running. The commuters are raising issues and are asking us when we will introduce weekly tickets. These are some of the things that we want to take care of.
“For now, we are excited to be launching this corridor. We really think that Prasa, as an entity, is on the recovery path. We think the people of South Africa should begin to appreciate that. This is no longer that Prasa, but the Prasa that is on the right track. We want the people to own and regard these trains as theirs,” she said.
She said the people have been forced to live without rail transport for too long now, adding that her department was working hard to resolve the matter.
“The people know the pain of living without the trains. They realise what it means to be without the trains, which are much cheaper than any other mode of transport,” she said.
She said vandalism and theft should be fought and defeated as they have taken infrastructure development backward.
She said the department depends on the work of the police and other law enforcement agencies to help resolve cable theft and vandalism.
“We really depend on the police to arrest those responsible.
“I would like to believe that the police have arrested those responsible. On our side, we have appointed security companies both within Prasa and through insourcing and outsourcing: 3 000 insourced security personnel and 7 000 outsourced security personnel. We also have rail SAPS services that assist us in ensuring safety. We are also erecting walls, which is expensive, and we should not be doing that as it means we are using resources and money for security to provide passengers with trains,” she said.
The minister commended the agency for insourcing its officers.
“Recently, Prasa's Protection Officers were declared Peace Officers under the Criminal Procedures Act, giving them more law enforcement powers, including powers to effect arrests. We congratulate all 286 peace officers who are now trained under the criminal justice system and the law in general,” she said.
The Star