The drop in the number of passengers on Prasa coaches has led to a fall in revenue from about R3.5b to about R200m per year for the rail agency.

Due to this drop in passengers, service providers now face the threat of Prasa not paying them for their services.

This was revealed by the standing committee on appropriations during its two-day engagements with Prasa stakeholders on April 1.

Prasa has seemingly recently attracted about 16 million passengers per annum from its former figures of around 600 million per annum.

This drop in commuters, who rely on affordable rail transportation, surfaced recently after it had restored rail networks that suffered infrastructure vandalism and theft as Prasa was having difficulty effectively securing the vast open network and its 218 stations.

Part of the networks hit by the scourge of crime was the Mabopane train networks that faced closure in December 2019.

The crime from Mabopane train station had trickled down to the Technikon Rand station in Pretoria West and the Saulsville line, among other networks.

In 2020, during level 5 of the lockdown, trains were not running which also led to a massive spike in cable theft and vandalism.

The rail lines were temporarily suspended in 2021 for rehabilitation in preparation for running new train sets and rehabilitating these rail lines.

Tshwane has since managed to recover about five lines in Tshwane, while Johannesburg to Pretoria corridor is still in the works.

However, despite the recovery in infrastructure, the standing committee remains concerned about the deterioration in performance.

“It has been on a downward trend for about seven years,” said Sfiso Buthelezi, chairperson of the standing committee on appropriations.

Buthelezi said the sitting brought light to the decline in the number of passengers which had in turn resulted in less revenue resulting in creditors and small businesses not being paid.

“This situation [creditors and small businesses not being paid] must be attended to,” said Buthelezi.

He said the committee undertook to engage National Treasury to find a sustainable solution to this problem.

“The committee is concerned about the poorest of the poor who depend on this mode of transport.

“The committee said workers cannot afford the travelling costs without metro rail.”

It has since called for the acceleration of depot modernisation and signalling to allow the trains to operate optimally.