Pretoria station shut as ‘world-class’ construction kicks off

The train service running between Pretoria and Saulsville will be suspended for two weeks from Saturday, October 16, as part of a programme to rehabilitate rail infrastructure.

Part of the Mabopane rehabilitation programme, Metrorail said its completion will result in “world-class rail facilities” with “improved travelling times”.

The programme was implemented because the entire railway infrastructure network suffered “complete” vandalism and theft, which forced Metrorail to switch the trains to diesel.

“This will have a huge impact on the service running between Pretoria and Saulsville stations,” said the Gauteng Metrorail.

Commuters were encouraged to make alternative transport arrangements for the duration of the construction.

Metrorail said the exact date on which the train service would resume will be announced in due course, but that the Mabopane to Pretoria rail corridor was set to reopen in November.

The train service on the Mabopane to Pretoria corridor has not been operational since August.

“A completely new infrastructure and facilities will come with the programme,” said acting Gauteng Metrorail spokesperson Tony Games.

Games said there won’t be any trains as the entire line will be a construction site to meet the set deadline.

“Commuters have been informed of the line closure.”

The programme was estimated at R1,2-billion; however, “the figure might change”.

In Gauteng, services were suspended between De Wildt and Pretoria, Mabopane and Belle Ombre, and De Wildt and Belle Ombre because of extensive theft and vandalism of railway infrastructure.

ALSO READ: Meet the mayoral candidate for the Patriotic Alliance Tshwane for upcoming municipal elections

Train stations, power supply systems such as overhead traction equipment (OHTE), and signalling systems were all targeted by vandals.

Games said although there were still opportunistic criminal elements, there was a drop in the number of incidents reported thanks to joint efforts with law enforcement agencies since 2019 when Prasa appointed security guards.

“It was not the work of ordinary people; we suspect that syndicates were involved in infrastructure theft and vandalism.”

He said the criminality was a major setback for Prasa.

“We are, however, committed to join forces with other companies faced with the same challenges and law enforcement agencies who have to deal with cable theft daily.”

Games said construction work was also aimed at rehabilitating the infrastructure to reduce the number of safety incidents in-between railway sections and around stations.

He said Prasa planned to re-open the corridor using modern trains as well as better signalling and other modern systems that would improve travelling times and reduce overcrowding.

“This as more trains can be put in the section at the same time, giving commuters more choices to plan their trips knowing that there will always be a next train on the platform.”

Games said the immediate benefits of new modernised infrastructure would create “safer, faster and smoother” services.

“The train services will be introduced in phases. The target date for phase 1 is November 2021 where some of the stations along the line will be operational. Phase 2 will see all the stations repaired and operational.”

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram