TRAINS started operating on the central line yesterday after services along Metrorail’s Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Bishop Lavis route had been suspended for almost a week.
Damages caused along the central line during service delivery protests in Langa last week forced Metrorail to suspend services.
Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said the protests on Tuesday “spilled onto the rails with devastating consequences”, but trains are now offering commuters partial service.
About 150 000 commuters were forced to seek alternative transport after 21 railway stations were closed.
Scott said rail engineers and technical teams were advised to wait for the situation to stabilise before being able to assess the full extent of the carnage.
She said apparatus cases housing hundreds of wires regulating the automated signalling system, track boxes and signals were among the equipment damaged.
“Post-assessment reports indicated where repairs could be prioritised to enable at least a partial train service to be reintroduced,” Scott said.
Metrorail regional manager Richard Walker said repair teams were disheartened to see the “wanton destruction of crucial equipment”.
“Despite this our engineers immediately tackled repairs that will enable us to start up a limited train service tomorrow,” he said.
Walker said the bulk of the repairs could take weeks to fully enable the resumption of normal rail operations.
“Unless authorities get a grip on destructive protests and law enforcement agencies apprehend the perpetrators, this scenario will continue to play itself out, leaving breadwinners without transport and learners unable to access schools,” he said.
Walker said the targeting of the city’s backbone of public transport last week prompted high-level collaboration between transport and law enforcement authorities.
“Metrorail serves the majority of economically disenfranchised communities and the railway Iines traverse six municipalities; it is a strategic asset that must be protected as the extensive railway network remains vulnerable to copper syndicates,cable-thefts-for-cash and other vandals.”
Commuter Nobesuthu Kuma, 30, from Mandalay, said she had not been to work since Wednesday last week.
“It (partial service) is better than nothing at all. I am worried about overcrowding, cancellation and late running trains,” she said.