Load shedding leaves Gautrain passengers stuck underground

It was an eventful day for Gautrain passengers on Tuesday after they were left stuck in queues, and in some cases, underground in a train, as Eskom continues to leave South Africans in the dark with the implementation of load shedding.

Gautrain passengers took to social media to share videos and pictures of the dark situation in different stations, as some shared their frustrations over the delays of trains.

Gautrain has been updating passengers on the situation on social media.

“Due to a power failure, the train service between Park and Midrand and the Airport service has been disrupted. A train shuttle service is transporting passengers between Marlboro and Sandton and Marlboro and OR Tambo. A bus service is transporting passengers to and from other affected stations,” it said.

“Trains are operating on a single track between Midrand and Sandton. A bus service is transporting passengers between Sandton and Park and between Sandton and OR Tambo. Train service between Midrand and Hatfield is unaffected. Please expect a delay of approx. 50 min on both lines,” it updated passengers a few minutes later.

Trains on both lines returned to full service a few minutes later, according to Gautrain, warning passengers to expect 30-minute delays.

Stage 3 load shedding

While the power utility is currently implementing stage 4 load shedding, it announced on Tuesday evening that it would reduce the power cuts to stage 3 from 5am on Wednesday until Friday morning.

Stage 2 load shedding will then be implemented on Friday until 5am on Saturday.

“It is necessary to continue with load shedding in order to fully replenish the emergency generation reserves. Total breakdowns currently amount to 12 709MW while planned maintenance is 6 164MW of capacity,” said spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha in a statement.

“We remind customers that load shedding is implemented as a last resort to maintain the stability of the power system regardless of the stage of load shedding. Eskom would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the implementation of load shedding, and requests the public to continue reducing the usage of electricity in order to
help us through the constraints.”