Prasa to fix, add upgrades on Mabopane-Pretoria CBD railway corridor

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) is working on plans to fix the Mabopane/Pretoria CBD railway corridor in Pretoria.

No specific dates for when these plans would be brought into effect by Prasa were, however, supplied.

“The final date will be announced soon,” said Prasa spokesperson Lillian Mofokeng.

Mofokeng said Prasa was working on service resumptions in Mabopane, Vereeniging and Saulsville.

“Covid-19 has impacted negatively on the progress of our plans in this regard, but we are making progress and have a detailed plan of all the phases for the recovery programme.”

She said one plan to combat crime was to build high walling on the Pretoria CBD/Mabopane railway corridor as well as high security technology to combat theft and vandalism.

She said such systems would ensure that Prasa had a system for early detection of crimes and security and police responses.

Mofokeng said Prasa was also dealing with issues of encroachment of illegal settlements along railway tracks.

She said issues of encroachment of illegal settlements in Pretoria that posed a serious challenge to rail infrastructure, was Soshanguve.

“This is a challenge where we involve the province and municipalities to assist with finding alternative land for relocation as this is their competency and not ours as Metrorail.”

Mofokeng said Prasa’s infrastructure also saw an increase in arson and vandalism during the lockdown.

This comes as Prasa lost R364 million due to vandalism and sabotage to its infrastructure and trains this year.

“The Minister of Transport launched an integrated security plan that involves the Department of Justice, the police and other law enforcement agencies.”

Select committee on transport, public service and administration, public works and infrastructure chairperson Kenneth Moeimang last week said they had received a briefing from Prasa on its plans to deal with the damage caused by vandalism and theft of infrastructure.

“Vandalism, arson and sabotage have limited Prasa’s capacity to deliver a fully effective service,” said Moeimang.

He said the committee also urged Prasa to embark on a media campaign after the recent spate of arson and vandalism during lockdown.

“The media campaign is to convey a strong message that criminals who commit acts of vandalism, arson or sabotage will be arrested and face the full might of the law.”

He said the national Treasury had approved an amount of R900 million last week for Prasa’s immediate security provisions.

“The committee noted Prasa’s security plans to use a combination of technology and human resources to safeguard and protect infrastructure.”

Moeimang said the committee welcomed the advertisement of 556 security officer posts out of a planned 3 100 workers to be employed full time at Prasa.

“The security officers will guard more than 22 000km of rail network, stations and other infrastructure.”

He urged Prasa to  attend to the Pretoria CBD/Mabopane railway corridor as the non-operational line impacted directly on the poor and working class who use trains.

The Mabopane station was closed in December 2019 due to cable theft with the effects trickling down to the Technikon Rand station in Pretoria West.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula had also announced the Mabopane train station project would be completed by April 2021 after undergoing renovations.

This article first appeared on Rekord and was republished with permission.

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