The decay and disuse of the rail infrastructure have a domino effect on the train station’s immediate surrounds.
Suffering from almost two years of gross neglect, the embankments, parking areas and walkways that give access to the Florida train station have become an eyesore of litter, vagrancy and drug abuse. Florida South Residents Association (FSRA) and several concerned residents arranged a clean-up of the pedestrian subway and the embankments that line either side of the Ruth Street entrance on December 11.
Supported by security teams from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and private security, the volunteer clean-up day had two primary objectives. Alien vegetation has taken over much of the embankments either side of the subway and with the reduction in foot traffic, the dangerous underpass void of any lighting serves as a makeshift shelter for the homeless and their accompanying dark deeds, both requiring urgent attention.
The expertise of botanist, Karin Spottiswoode, was relied on to help identify the invasive plant life as residents hacked through the dense foliage with pangas and spades.
“My knowledge is in identifying the many declared alien invasive plants, distinguishing them from our similar-looking indigenous ones. The tall vegetation was mainly Four o’clocks (Mirabilis Jalapa), Malpitte (Datura stramonium), and Mexican poppy (Argemone mexicana), all of them broad-leaved, declared alien invaders,” said Karin, who has spent many decades looking after the Kloofendal Nature Reserve.
PRASA Protection Services would clear the mess from in and around the subway as residents piled the mounds of litter together, with Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo providing a TLB and skip to remove the truckload of accumulated waste. The subway may be a sleeping area for the homeless but the thick bushes also serve as areas for them to relieve themselves, as well as a hiding place for drugs and those who peddle them.
Once the areas were cleared, debate began on implementing a long-term solution. Drug use and vagrancy are larger societal issues but residents feel maintenance of the embankments can remove the conditions under which they thrive. “Applying lots of salt to the plants will affect the water ecosystem downstream very negatively. Systemic herbicides are absorbed and transported through the plant’s vascular system, killing the entire plant. This means that the herbicide, unlike salt and the horrible waste we found amongst the weeds last Saturday, will not get washed down with water into the stream system below,” advised Karin.
Residents are determined to rid their suburb of elements that do not reflect the pride they have in their home, asking all concerned neighbours to take up the challenge with them. Plants may regrow and homelessness will continue but residents will tackle the issues with the persistence of the element they wish to overcome.
