The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the City of Cape Town inspected the newly restored Cape Town CBD to Simon’s Town line aboard a new train on Friday 7 January.
Mayco member for urban mobility Rob Quintas said in a statement that officials wanted to “look and see” for themselves.
“Today I attended a train trip and inspection of the newly restored Cape Town CBD to Simon’s Town line aboard Prasa’s Metrorail ‘Blue Train’.
“We took the new, world-class carriage to Simon’s Town.”
However, Quintas says the train departed almost 20 minutes late.
“Unfortunately, the train only departed nearly 20 minutes later than scheduled, however, the air-conditioned, new carriages would be the envy of any local public rail system in the developed or developing world,” he says.
Quintas was joined by councillors Emile Langenhoven, Carmen Siebritz and Kevin Southgate.
They were also joined by the chair for public Works and Transport in the Western Cape Legislature, Ricardo Mackenzie.
In a media statement released on Tuesday 4 January, Metrorail announced its services between Fish Hoek and Simon’s Town would officially resume the next day. A mere hours after the first statement was sent out, another one followed, saying a new blue train had been stoned at Steenberg Station by youths.
Quintas said vandalism at various stations was visible throughout their journey.
“Including derelict buildings that could be better utilised to generate funds for the service, and litter and informality with tent structures visible along much of the route.
“This route has been until recently plagued by damage, vandalism and theft and the glaring fact that most, if not all, of the line does not have adequate fencing, protecting both people and Prasa’s assets, was apparent throughout most of the journey.”
Quintas noted sand along the Glencairn line resulted in commuters needing to change trains for the last leg of the journey to Simon’s Town.
“There is much more that needs to be done in partnership with the City and the National Department of Environment, Fisheries and Forestry in order to manage and mitigate this natural phenomenon.
“There is now a great, and overdue, opportunity for the City to step in and work with national government and state-owned enterprises as well as potential third party private partners, to save what is left of this vital service, for the benefit of the commuters of Cape Town.”
