Prasa makeover: Inside the R2.1 billion investment to get rail back on track

Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) has spent more than R2.1 billion rand to date on rail infrastructure in Gauteng.

This was revealed by transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga at the launch of the Leralla-Germiston line on Monday.

Chikunga said Prasa was “making significant progress in rebuilding the passenger rail infrastructure and refurbishing vandalised stations”.

Prasa facelift

As part of the general overall, Prasa is also in the process of manufacturing new trains in Gauteng, and refurbishing its ageing fleet.

This after Prasa awarded R7.5 billion to five companies back in June 2022 to provide heavy maintenance and rehabilitation work over the next 5 years.

As of April 2023, more than 18 corridors had been recovered, with seven now operational in Gauteng, fitting with new electrical motor units.

In April, Chikunga said the rail service was recovering from the “devastation experienced on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic in the form of unprecedented theft and vandalism of public assets”.

At the time, she said the illegal occupation of the line and rail reserve “crippled the service and denied many people access to the most affordable mode of public transport”.

Leralla-Germiston line

The Leralla-Germiston line cost approximately R600 million to refurbish and has been operational since 6 July 2023.

It currently carries 10 000 people on a daily basis.

Other upgrades and repairs to the line include replacing overhead electrical cables which power the trains and refurbishing the substations which feed power to the network.

The train currently runs from Leralla and stops at Limindlela, Tembisa, Kempton Park, Rhodesfield and Germiston stations.

An additional R28 million “was invested in refurbishing the stations, [while] R292 million was spent on overhead cables, and R276 million on substations.

R44 million was spent to rehabilitate and restore the Elandsfontein substation, Chikunga confirmed, and R130 million had been allocated to extend the rail service from Germiston to Johannesburg Park Station.

Job creation

Chikunga said the upgrades to the rail network in Gauteng boosted local economies by creating job opportunities.

A total of 191 jobs were created for this project, “with 15 young women under the age of 35 employed, 3 women with disabilities and 21 women over the age of 35”.

The larger scope of the project to recover the Central Line is said to create 922 job opportunities, with 475 young people below the age of 35 employed and 22 local SMMEs hired.

Prasa in Western Cape

In the Western Cape, Prasa recovered 8 corridors with 88 of the 121 stations brought up to spec and five additional lines earmarked for recovery by the end of the financial year.

These include Nyanga to Philippi, Philippi to Chris Hani, Philippi to Kapteinsklip, Belville to Strand, and Cape Town to Muldervlei.

Earlier this month, Prasa said it plans to increase the number of trains running on the Cape Town rail network, as well as improving the frequency of the trains through recovery and upgrading train stations.