Cape Town - There was commuter chaos in Cape Town on Tuesday after at least 35 trains were cancelled as a result of recent arson attacks on rail infrastructure.
Metrorail spokeswoman Riana Scott said that, to date, 17 carriages had been damaged, which would cost the company up to R17 million to repair.
On Tuesday, she explained the delays, saying the major hiccups were between Nyanga and Philippi.
“We have to cancel some of the trains so they don’t block up the system. It will take a long time to fix this, because they are burnt and there is nothing that is salvageable.”
She said trains operated on a system to a stop-go setup while sections of rail were being repaired.
“Until such time as the full automated functionality of the signal system is restored, trains have to be authorised manually, a slower but safe process. So the cancellations comprise train-sets released for obligatory maintenance and train-sets cancelled to create the necessary capacity.”
Scott said the last trains that were lost in fires were designated for the northern area.
“With the scores of carriages lost over the past two years, the spare fleet pool of five trains has also been depleted, making it very difficult to replace those failing in sections or going for scheduled maintenance.”
She added the recovery would be progressive, but would not be a quick process.
“As the infrastructure is repaired we are able to improve punctuality, and as we receive refurbished train-sets from the contractors we can add capacity to meet demand. We also predicted that overcrowding would increase and appeal to commuters to be careful when boarding and disembarking.”
Cape Argus