The South African railways, managed by Passanger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and Metrorail, have been the pride of the nation for decades. They move millions of commuters each year, are employers of thousands and were symbolic of an industrialised country that was moving forward.
Today, the line that runs through Roodepoort is a dilapidated collection of scrap that would bring to tears the men and women who worked so hard to make them what they were. Stripped of any meaningful life, they exist now as monuments to failure and a lasting record of an administration that seems not to care.
Witpoortjie
The meeting place of our favourite Valentine’s Day lovebirds would now be better suited to a horror film than a romance. The ticket booth and toilets have been stripped of their window frames, with as much as possible of the roofs having been removed from the main structures.
HorisonÂ
Overgrown weeds and plant life greet pedestrians to the desolate platforms where even the roof trusses of the shelters and waiting areas have vanished. The inside of the main admin building resembles a war zone with every inch of floor covered in rubble and debris.
Roodepoort Station
The crown jewel of the line has been at the heartbeat of this town since the beginning of the gold rush. A beacon of industry and trade, the over 100-year-old hub is now a heartbreaking sight. Trash strewn across the station building, platforms hacked to pieces, and sawn-off cables scattered from end to end. When the first tracks were laid down in the 1890s, they brought an explosion of progress never seen before yet, at the end of Transport Month in 2020, the only movement is the dismantling of a once great station.
Georginia
Earlier this month, fire gutted a bathroom block at the station in the quiet residential neighbourhood. This train line once served as an affordable transport option for people across the West Rand. For less than the cost of a litre of petrol, commuters could access the train but without it, household transport costs have soared.
Hamberg
One the most aesthetically pleasing buildings on the line, Hamberg sits conveniently nestled next to a school and a short walk to a hospital. A collapsed and partially removed palisade fencing shields the badly stripped platform. Most electrical wiring is gone and the common sight of the torn-up platforms is at its most extensive here.
Florida Station
The station that has by far the least damage also appears to have the highest level of illegal trade. The corner shop at the top of the underpass stairs is still open but on the platforms, several exchanges and offers of illegal substances were made in the time it took to gather photos. The station building is comparatively in good condition with the contents still neatly arranged as viewed through the caged-off windows which are still intact. Litter, broken ceiling boards and missing cabling are among the biggest problems.
Unified
A central escape route for criminals due to the large sewer nearby that runs into the greenbelt on the far side of Cecil Payne Stadium. Vagrants have hijacked the largest building on the platform, even installing their own security gate while the platform has been spared any mutilation other than the stripping of overhead cables.
Maraisburg
The main building at Maraisburg Station was destroyed by fire in November 2019. Since then, zero effort has been made to repair the building and today it is nothing but brick and rubble. One of the oldest buildings on the line, it may never service a paying customer again.
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