Middelburg train station deserted, decayed and neglected
The Middelburg Train Station was built according to the Middelburg Train Station in the Netherlands, between 1890 and 1894.
It was declared a national monument in 1987 and is a heritage site. This is supposed to be one of Middelburg’s beacons. However, the Middelburg Mpumalanga Train Station cannot be compared to the Middelburg Netherlands Train Station at all.
Mpumalanga has two passenger lines available in comparison with the Netherlands, which has approximately 569 lines.
Stone buildings and blue fences have now changed into a deserted, decayed, neglected, ghost area. Middelburg’s drug addicts regularly meet here to wheel and deal. Currently the station is a criminal’s paradise.
You can’t inquire about anything at the station because there is nothing.
Compared to twenty years ago, the station is not in a good condition. Garbage bins overflow, telephone booths don’t even operate, fences have been broken down and palm branches are strewn everywhere.
Broken windows and glass scattered in the area and in general, the whole area is in a state of neglect.
It was a valuable place handled with love and respect what was then, and is now, can not be compared.
Trains carrying goods run everyday for twenty-four hours. The passenger train, called the Pride of Africa, runs only on Wednesdays (Nelspruit to Middelburg to Pretoria).
The Shosholoza Express only runs on Fridays and Sundays (Johannesburg to Middelburg to Komatipoort) and makes a return journey also on Sundays (Komatipoort to Middelburg to Johannesburg).
The question is, why is this place so neglected?
This is both a security and environmental risk to residents who live and work in the area.
If made functional again, the railway station can serve the community, create jobs and perhaps boost tourism.
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