Train service between Langa and Cape Town resumes
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) chairperson Leonard Ramatlakane welcomed rail commuters at the resumption of the service between Cape Town and Langa on Monday.
The corridor that passes through Mutual station has been suspended since November 2019, with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) collaborating with the provincial department of transport and public works (DTPW) and the City to restore the rail network.
Prasa’s move follows in the wake of Transport MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela’s engagement with around 7 500 illegal occupants, who had erected shacks on top of train lines, requesting them to peacefully move from Prasa’s servitude.
The presence of illegal settlements has been a major impediment to construction work on phase 2 from Langa to Khayelitsha.
’’The resumption of a rail service between Cape Town and Langa is expected to be widely welcomed by cash-strapped commuters spending more than 40% of their disposable income on transport,“ Prasa said in a statement. The resumption of train services takes place after long work by Prasa employees costing millions. The service phase 1 will stop at Langa station to allow further work of repairs from Langa to Chris Hani Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plein, and resettling the current illegal occupants of rail tracks and reserves at Langa, Phillipi, which would need to make way for rail service".
“The City of Cape Town and provincial government will assist with alternative safer sites as matter of urgency. ’The chairperson reiterated that Prasa owed it to communities to reintroduce an reliable safe and affordable public transport during this tough Covid-19 and economic times. The board and officials from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa issued the illegal shack dwellers in Siyahlala informal settlement on Monday, 1 February with 10 days’ notice to vacate the tracks of the Cape Town Central Line in order for it to repair and resume the train service.“
