EWN reports that the long-awaited City Rail Enforcement Unit was finally deployed on Cape Town’s rail network on Monday morning following a number of delays.  

Transport Minister Blade Nzimande officially launched the unit at Cape Town train station.  The unit is a joint initiative between the City of Cape Town, provincial government and the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).  According to the City’s JP Smith, 100 officers have undergone extensive training over the past few months.  Eighty-four of them were on duty on Monday.  The rail commuter service has been under tremendous pressure and has suffered vandalism and damages due to arson attacks.  Commuters said they were hopeful the railway enforcement unit would help bring much-needed change as they were fearful of using trains.  The City indicated that this pilot project would run for a period of at least 12 months.

• Read this report by Kaylynn Palm in full at EWN
• Read too, Rail Enforcement Unit launched in Cape Town, at Engineering News

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page