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By Sisonke Mlamla 
11h ago
Cape Town: The Cape Town transport portfolio committee said the SA Passenger Railways Agency (Prasa) continued to fail to get the Central Line up and running and claimed the organization had completely neglected the line busiest in Cape Town even before the Covid. -19 a pandemic occurred.
Committee chair Angus McKenzie said the line was completely shattered.
“Vandals have gone from stealing underground cables to overhead cables, train tracks, and now power towers.”
McKenzie said that while vandalism was a key factor in the state of the line, “we must never discount the fact that Prasa has played a leadership role by failing to ensure that the necessary security measures have been put in place.”
He said the community welcomed the construction of a multi-million dollar wall between Netreg station and Bonteheuwel station, but then everything stopped leaving strategic spaces between the wall to allow vandals to have more peace of mind to continue their criminal acts.
“When President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation in his 2020 State of the Nation Address, he promised that by September 2020 and with a budget of more than R 1.4 billion, the Central Line would be operational again. We are in September and the only thing that has happened since then is that the line has been completely stripped of any resemblance to a train line, ”he said.
McKenzie said the promise was further reinforced with the announcement by Prasa administrator Bongisizwe Mpondo that 80 buses would be purchased to carry 5,000 passengers per hour on the central line, but that has not materialized either.
What did materialize, however, was that on May 12, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula praised Mpondo for his plan to fix Prasa, but a few weeks ago, the Western Cape High Court struck down Mpondo’s appointment as trustee. .
Prasa spokesman Makhosini Mgitywa said that the role of the railway in Cape Town and the central line, in particular, as the backbone of the transport system, was highly appreciated.
Mgitywa said that unfortunately the recovery of the central line has been delayed for a number of reasons, including the implications of the lockdown, internal capacity challenges, and a lack of adequate security solutions.
He said they have, however, made progress in developing the various project specifications and reviewing the damage to infrastructure that occurred during the closure.
“We remain committed to providing at least an interim transportation solution, such as bus service, while we carry out the reclamation works. In addition to the business case that we have presented to the treasury, we are exploring more options with existing Autopax buses. “
United Commuters Voice spokesman Joao Jardim said the central line would not reopen anytime soon as structures have been built on the tracks and Prasa needed to address the matter before it could proceed with any form of reconstruction or opening. of the line.
Khayelitsha Development Forum President Ndithini Tyhido said development forums on the Cape Flats expressed disappointment and anger at the Prasa’s delayed rail service recovery plan on the central line.
Tyhido said the lives of people on the central line are important and they deserve safe, cost-effective and reliable train service.
Cape argus
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