Cape Town – The embattled Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) was dealt another blow when six carriages and a motor coach were destroyed in a blaze at the weekend.
The train was reported alight at about 7pm while it was travelling between Kentemade and Century City stations on Saturday.
Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said the near-empty train was en route to Cape Town station and no injuries were reported.
“The Monte Vista railway lines are Transnet assets; both lines were closed to allow Fire & Rescue to extinguish the fire, but have now been re-opened.
"The incident will be investigated to confirm the cause of the fire. Cost estimates of the damage will be confirmed once Prasa’s loss adjusters have had the opportunity to assess the damage after the train has been taken to Metrorail’s depot,” said Scott.
Saturday’s incident meant the Western Cape now has 32 operational train sets out of the 88 required.
Speaking at a media and stakeholder press conference on Thursday in Khayelitsha, Metrorail regional manager Richard Walker said: “We have 33 trains and a further roll-out of about 10 for the Cape Flats line was expected to come down to the province.
"However, because of the challenge of trains being torched, and vandalism, we asked for them to be held back. The Railway Safety Regulator also gave a go-ahead for a total of 20 sets to be rolled out by October 2020.
“There are plans in the pipeline to ensure proper infrastructure, and security measures are in place in order for this to happen.”
Walker said millions of rand had been lost as a result of the suspension of the Central Line, which was Metrorail's busiest route. Restoring the line would cost over R1bn.
Newly-appointed Prasa administrator Bongisizwe Mpondo, his team and senior managers were also in attendance.
Mpondo said the parastatal was not recovering enough to meet their financial obligations.
“I understand commuter and community forum frustrations, but people must understand that I have been in office for 45 days.
“I came in to a broken business, which is currently not in a good financial state with regard to profits. So we have to be realistic in terms of recovery plan timeframes.
"The first three months are about order, stabilisation and ensuring policies are in place within Prasa,” Mpondo said.
He said the Central Line would be reopened and be operational, with a limited service, in September, and fully operational by April 2021.