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- Prasa has promised that the Central Line between Nyanga and Chris Hani, Khayelitsha in Cape Town will be fully operational by December this year.
- At a briefing earlier this week, Scopa members were happy with progress so far, but the committee chair said that the "decision to cancel the security contract was reckless, irresponsible." He said they would be back in January 2024 to check if Prasa fulfils its duties.
- Prasa's Group CEO noted that a major cause of delay could be the relocation of thousands of shack dwellers still living on the tracks along the line.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
Metrorail's Central Line service between Nyanga and Chris Hani, Khayelitsha in Cape Town will be fully operational by December this year, according to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) during a briefing with Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Thursday.
On 16 March, GroundUp reported that Prasa had partially resumed services on the Central Line, which had been closed since 2019.
Trains are running only from Nyanga to Maitland, stopping at all stations except Netreg, which is still being rebuilt.
On Thursday, committee members conducted an oversight visit to inspect train infrastructure along the line, from Nyanga train station to the Netreg and Bonteheuwel stations.
Prasa staff told MPs that the route had been severely damaged and vandalised.
Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said they want to assess whether progress has been made since the committee's visit to the Western Cape's railways in March 2022.
"A few years back, the [previous] Board of Prasa took an erroneous decision to cancel a security contract, therefore leaving the entire Prasa railway infrastructure vulnerable and susceptible to criminality.
"The pandemic escalated the problem because there was vandalism of the structure throughout the country. We were here in March 2022 with the view to check on the extent of the problem in order to hold Prasa accountable," he said.
Hlengwa said they believe "that at the heart of a functional economy is a functional railway" and that many people had been dependent on trains for travelling.
"There will, of course, need to be bailouts and subsidies. We need to ensure that whatever assistance is given, is consistent with good governance and other related legislation. We have seen that a lot of work has been done and we will continue to assess. At this point we are satisfied with what we have seen," said Hlengwa.
He added that they were still waiting on Prasa to present Scopa with a detailed security plan. "Ultimately what collapsed the infrastructure and made it vulnerable was the absence of security, not just here in the Cape, but throughout the country. We have visited Gauteng as well as part of the oversight.
