By Mike Cherney
Rows of glasses filled with white wine greeted the passengers as they made their way to the bar on a purple, grey-roofed train in Johannesburg's Park station.
On a normal day, the train would go all the way to Cape Town instead of stopping at Potchefstroom before returning to Johannesburg. And the passengers would not be railway executives and a handful of journalists, but rather paying customers for a trip to the Mother City.
Thursday was the official launch of a full-scale, mid-range luxury train, Premier Classe, Shosholoza Meyl, South Africa's state-owned long-distance commuter rail service.
The train will start running on a full schedule on May 11.
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Company officials for Transnet, the state company that owns Shosholoza Meyl, said the new service would entice South Africans back onto the rails, give tourists a unique way to view the country and help prepare the nation for the World Cup in 2010.
"Trains get people's passions up," said Maria Ramos, group chief executive of Transnet. "South Africa has a long history of rail."
But some railway experts said they were not sure whether there would be a market to fill an entire Premier Classe train.
"The people who can afford that kind of money will either drive in fancy cars or fly," said Geoff Pethick, a railroad consultant, who added that consumers could get a better deal from privately operated luxury trains.
The Premier Classe will run from Cape Town to Joburg on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and from Joburg to Cape Town on Thursdays and Sundays. A one-way ticket to Cape Town costs R1 400, while a one-way ticket to Joburg costs R1 575.
The train will feature six accommodation coaches, a dining car, a lounge car and a car truck, which will allow guests to transport their motor vehicles with them at an extra cost.
Premier Classe began in 2001, with four train cars attached to the TransKaroo passenger train.
Company officials said high demand had sparked the decision to switch the Premier Classe to a full train set.
Running a full train means the price can be lower, said Ngobi Mareko, the executive manager of Shosholoza Meyl. The old price was listed at about R1 750, according to the Premier Classe website.
Although the company's target market for the train is middle- to upper-class South Africans, the company will also be marketing the train for tourists, said Matti Geldenhuys, marketing manager for Shosholoza Meyl.
Rollo Dickson, the editor of Railways Africa, felt it might not garner enough passengers to justify running two trips every week.
"The price is substantial and maybe you're not going to fill 12 coaches a week. But I don't know," said Dickson.
- This article was originally published on page 6 of The Star on May 05, 2006
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