Hope for decrepit stations

According to PRASA, the Benoni and Daveyton train stations are earmarked for restoration in their 2022/23 calendar year.

Trains haven’t been running in Benoni for years, thanks to vandalism and theft of cables and other infrastructure, and commuters have had no choice but to use other modes of transport.

The City Times visited the Daveyton, Benoni, Northmead and Dunswart stations and found the homeless quite happily having set up home in what is left of the stations and the old ticket office at the Benoni station has even become a spaza shop.

Daveyton

There is nothing left of the Daveyton Train Station due to the looting of the platform roof, windows and doors at the main station building.

Broken walls, empty railway tracks, rubbish and overgrown grass are to be seen at the abandoned train station.

Benoni

Interestingly, at the Benoni Train Station, a foreign national has opened a spaza shop in the former ticket office.

Not much other activity was noted when the City Times visited this train station, which was once the hub of commuter activity.

Doors, tiles, corrugated roofing and windows have been completely stripped and the area is littered with piles of rubbish left by vagrants, who seem to sleep in the dilapidated structures.

Huddled around a fire on the platform, two men chuckle and said to our journalist, ‘The trains will come. If they can make sure that the power lines are not stolen again.’

Dunswart

Meanwhile, the Dunswart station – traditionally one of Benoni’s busiest – is abandoned with only overgrown grass on the railway line and the damaged building in sight.

The station has turned into an illegal dumping hotspot.

Northmead

Northmead station is in complete ruin. The electric cables along the railway lines have been stripped while there is overgrown grass and thick vegetation on the tracks.

The ticket office has been reduced to rubble and the doors, windows and frames have all been removed. The area is covered in filth and long grass.

On the inside, visitors are met by a heavy stench of excrement and urine as it is presumed it been has used as a shelter by the homeless.

PRASA responds

PRASA national spokesperson Andiswa Makanda said the Benoni and Daveyton lines are scheduled to be restored in the next calendar year (2022/2023).

“We will start by scoping the amount of civil work and electrical work that needs to be done.

“This is scheduled to be done by the end of this year. We are appealing to the community to be patient as we recover our rail network across the country.”

Makanda said their stations and railway infrastructure across the country were vandalised or stolen during the level five lockdown.

“This was exacerbated by the cancellation of security contracts in 2019, leaving our rail environment vulnerable to theft and vandalism.

“For the first time in its history, PRASA is rebuilding the rail network and some of its stations from the ground up.

“In rebuilding the network, PRASA will restore the infrastructure and services in phases. This is our ‘corridor’ approach. We are rebuilding the rail network ‘corridor by corridor’.

“It is not practical to fix the entire network at once, as this requires major resources and could potentially create a demand surge on the supplier market.”

Makanda said for this year, 10 priority corridors were identified to be restored by the end of the year.

The corridors were selected based on the volume of passengers on the corridor, the demand for services and the time it would take to recover the services.

“To date, five corridors have been restored, including Mabopane and Saulsville in Tshwane.

“PRASA has closed three corridors in Gauteng for major rehabilitation work of its infrastructure – Naledi-JHB, Pienaarspoort-PTA and Leralla to Elandsfontein,” said Makanda.

GALLERY:

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