Cape Town – Metrorail in the Western Cape is expected to re-introduce the service between Eerste River and Bellville on Monday.
The long-awaited reintroduction was expected last month, but suspended due to “environmental issues” that were affecting the line’s operation.
For now, the train service is expected to be limited along the corridor until metrorail is able to introduce more trains.
Metrorail spokesperson, Zino Mihi, said the next phase is for them to do trial operations on the line.
She said bringing back the service of the Eerste River line was part of Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s (Prasa) planned recovery of the train service in all corridors.
“There are no train fare increases yet on the service, the old train fares will apply.
“The Eerste River line was one of the busiest corridors on the Northern Line, which is referred to as corridor-A due to the high commuter volumes.
“This line also served as a feeder to the Strand and Stellenbosch lines. Before the lockdown regulations were instituted during Covid-19 in March 2020, Metrorail had several thousands of commuters from Strand, Muldersvlei and Eerste River to Cape Town,” said Mihi.
Since the train is scheduled to operate between Eerste River and Bellville, commuters will be able to take a connecting train from Bellville to Cape Town via Goodwood and via Monte Vista.
Time-tables are expected to be provided on Metrorail on-line platforms and be available at stations.
The Eerste River train service will be available for now only during the week.
Cape Times