Cape Town - Central line commuters who boarded the 6.25am train from Nyanga to Cape Town on Tuesday were pleasantly surprised to see new Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga on board for the reopening of this line.
Chikunga visited the stations to see the progress and note the work yet to be done, including the movement of illegal dwellers from the railway lines.
“I am very happy, particularly because we have discovered that this is no longer about testing; we have discovered that people are already using the service and there are advantages to that effect.
“People pay much less compared to other modes of transport and therefore with the cost of living that is high we are giving them a choice to still travel but pay far less than they have been paying in the absence of trains.”
Prasa CEO Hishaam Emeran said the current operation involved off-grid services to the commuters as trains still operate during load shedding.
“For our stations we have back-up generators to ensure that lights and the ability to sell tickets are not impeded.
“In terms of being able to run the trains, that is not being immediately impacted because we have substations that feed the lines. Fortunately, most of those substations are off the residential grid. If we were to go beyond Stage 6 then we would have to look at other majors, but at this point the trains are still running even under load shedding,” Emeran said.
Standing between further operational services of the central line from Nyanga to Chris Hani in Khayelitsha and Nyanga to Kapteinsklip in Mitchells Plain are 3500 illegal dwellers.
Prasa said it would prioritise those within the 10m boundary for them to put up temporary fencing, allowing the construction to take place.
Group Chief Executive Officer of PRASA, Mr Hishaam Emeran speaks on the progress made recovering the rail corridor. 16 corridors have been recovered to date #RebuildingRail pic.twitter.com/axJa0GjHnN
— PRASA Group (@PRASA_Group) April 4, 2023
Commuting to Cape Town on T9504 via Pinelands with The Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga . #CentralLineCT #RebuildingRail pic.twitter.com/ThqAPdms64
Deputy mayor Eddie Andrews said to remove the central line dwellers they needed about 40 acres, and to consider that those families have lives built around where they are currently living.
“As residents of the City we have to take ownership and ensure that the rights of any property holder are protected. We have to ensure that rules of law are protected.
“We need to recognise that there are people and families residing there, we have to move them sustainably as they are attending schools and employed in close proximity, we also have to look at options that are not too far from their current location.”