Cape Town - After nearly two years of no train services, Metrorail Western Cape announced that today they would begin trial operations to restore train services along the Central Line.
This comes after the Central Line, which connects Cape Town station to Langa via Pinelands station, Cape Town station to Langa via Mutual station, and Bellville station to Ysterplaat via Lavistown station, had been inactive since 2019 owing to vandalism, cable theft and land invasion at several stations.
Metrorail Western Cape spokesperson Zino Mihi said that Metrorail had recovered vandalised platforms, station lighting, ablution facilities for commuters and station buildings in order to resume the services along that line.
“The region had to repair five sub-stations along the Cape Town–Bellville and Bellville–Langa route. They were located in areas such as Maitland, Langa, Belhar, Kasselsvlei and Bellville. These sub-stations had to feed 19km of newly rebuilt OHTE and the rebuilt programme for the OHTE involved construction of the mast foundations, structures and electrical wires. Additional power distribution lines were done through internal and external teams.
“Prasa also had to improve its security deployment for the Central Line corridor – this can be witnessed at stations, on-board the trains and between the stations protecting the infrastructure.
“Prasa engaged on a larger scale with all the areas under the Central Line corridor through various community structures and subcouncils. Projects that are currently being executed include station improvements, OHTE and perway. The community engagements were well received by community leaders. The region is currently embarking on job recruitment drives and business opportunities under phase 1 on the Central Line, where project managers and contractors are recruiting,” said Mihi.
Train commuter activist Lorenzo Davids said the announcement was good news for commuters overall, but in particular for Central Line commuters, as the line served some of the city’s poorest people and it will bring massive relief to the crippling costs commuters were paying for motorised public transport.
“The primary issue that affected commuters was mobility. Fewer people could travel, who lived along the Central Line, into other areas, especially for work seekers, due to cost issues. Trains are by far the cheapest form of transport and can transport greater volumes. One of the negative outcomes of not having trains on the Central Live had been that working parents had to leave home up to 45 minutes earlier to get a taxi to work, leaving their children alone for longer. Besides loss of mobility and time, Central Line users who live far from the CBD had to rely on multiple taxi rides – some up to three taxis in the morning – to get them to work. These resulted in exorbitant additional costs for poor families who were already struggling to cope with the post-pandemic economic and employment crisis.
“Going forward, I hope Prasa maintains the level of on-station and on-train security on the Central Line that has been the case with the Southern Line. Security on stations and on trains are a non-negotiable condition for this service to become reliable again. The regularity and consistency of the train service is a second non-negotiable. People rely on the trains arriving on schedule. It’s critical that Prasa does not drop the ball here. People depend on it to get to work, interviews, meetings and events on time. If the train service is not on time or is cancelled with a minute’s notice, commuters who already bought train tickets are then forced to use cash to board a taxi – a double payment they cannot afford.
“I also hope that they communicated better with passengers constantly, especially while they are commuting. Announcements of schedule changes, delays and cancellations of certain train services must be done timeously, constantly and clearly,” said Davids.