A freshly cut railway cable near uMngeni train station Durban KwaZulu-Natal on September 8 2020. (Khaya Ngwenya)
Prasa has a huge battle ahead to restore commuter services in SA's big metros.
Cable gantries and even entire train stations are being plundered across SA - and the economic impact of the wholesale theft and sabotage of Metrorail's commuter rail network is going to hit all of us hard, economists and transport experts warn.
Just seven of Metrorail's 34 commuter lines are currently operating countrywide - and then only with reduced services - as the agency grapples with the results of large-scale looting by cable thieves.
But it has gone beyond cable theft. Whole stations, such as Jeppe in Johannesburg, have been destroyed. In Cape Town, a settlement in Langa has been built on disused central line tracks that will have to be replaced before the line can open again.
A member of Prasa Protection Service questions two men who were found loitering around the railway line near Umgeni Road in Durban KwaZulu-Natal. on September 8 2020. (Khaya Ngwenya)
A Prasa Protection Service member inspects the vandalised substation where electrical cables worth millions were stolen in May in Thembalihle, KwaMashu Durban KwaZulu-Natal. (Khaya Ngwenya)
Stripped railway cables along the KwaMashu Line in Durban KwaZulu-Natal. (Khaya Ngwenya)
Jeppe Train station in Johannesburg is one of the most vandalised stations in the country with vast amounts of cabling removed and 90% of the steel structures missing. What remains are the bricks-and-mortar which are used by street dwellers as their sleeping place. (Thapelo Morebudi/The Sunday Times)
A member of the Prasa Protection Service inspects a railway cable near Umgeni Road which form part of the the KwaMashu Line in Durban, KwaZu-Natal. (Khaya Ngwenya)
Jeppe Train station in Johannesburg is one of the most vandalised station in the country with vast amounts of cabling removed and 90% of the steal structures missing. The only surviving thing is the bricks-and-mortar which is used by other Street dwellers as their sleeping place. (Thapelo Morebudi/The Sunday Times)
Jeppe Train station in Johannesburg is one of the most vandalised station in the country with vast amounts of cabling removed and 90% of the steal structures missing. The only surviving thing is the bricks-and-mortar which is used by other Street dwellers as their sleeping place. (Thapelo Morebudi/The Sunday Times)
Jeppe Train station in Johannesburg is one of the most vandalised station in the country with vast amounts of cabling removed and 90% of the steal structures missing. The only surviving thing is the bricks-and-mortar which is used by other Street dwellers as their sleeping place. (Thapelo Morebudi/The Sunday Times)
Jeppe Train station in Johannesburg is one of the most vandalised station in the country with vast amounts of cabling removed and 90% of the steal structures missing. The only surviving thing is the bricks-and-mortar which is used by other Street dwellers as their sleeping place. (Thapelo Morebudi/The Sunday Times)
Prasa Transnet freight train snared in cut cable near Randfontein.
(Paul Ash)
Prasa cable theft. (Paul ash)
The Passenger Rail Agency of SA said executives took advantage of instability at board level and unlawfully stayed longer in their positions. The labour court did not agree. File photo. (Paul Ash)
Prasa cables gone near Randfontein station. (Paul Ash)
The railway line at Langa, Cape Town. What is left of Prasa’s commuter train network? Prasa has a huge battle ahead to restore commuter services in SA's big metros. While cable theft and vandalism were a growing, the hard lockdown sped up the rate at which infrastructure was being looted. Only a handful of trains are running in Joburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban and these mostly have to use expensive diesels because the overhead power cables have been stolen. ( ESA ALEXANDER/SUNDAY TIMES)
The railway line at Langa, Cape Town. What is left of Prasa’s commuter train network? Prasa has a huge battle ahead to restore commuter services in SA's big metros. While cable theft and vandalism were a growing, the hard lockdown sped up the rate at which infrastructure was being looted. ( ESA ALEXANDER/SUNDAY TIMES)
The railway line at Langa, Cape Town where the shacks are built on it and a rubbish dump. What is left of Prasa’s commuter train network? Prasa has a huge battle ahead to restore commuter services in SA's big metros. While cable theft and vandalism were a growing, the hard lockdown sped up the rate at which infrastructure was being looted. ( ESA ALEXANDER/SUNDAY TIMES)
The railway line at Langa, Cape Town. What is left of Prasa’s commuter train network? Prasa has a huge battle ahead to restore commuter services in SA's big metros. While cable theft and vandalism were a growing, the hard lockdown sped up the rate at which infrastructure was being looted. ( ESA ALEXANDER/SUNDAY TIMES)
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