GroundUp reports that after it wrote to the Ministry of Transport to ask what was being done to help improve the situation of Metrorail in Cape Town, Minister Dr Blade Nzimande said that stabilising Metrorail was a priority.  

“Our immediate and urgent task is to stabilise and provide a predictable Metrorail service within current capacity.  The Minister has instructed Prasa [Passenger Rail Agency of SA] to work on the recovery plan to add additional train sets in the Cape Town Metrorail network,” ministry spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said.  When asked about when interventions were to be implemented, the Ministry did not provide any timelines.  In October 2017, the City of Cape Town announced its intention to take over management of Metrorail from Prasa.  Councillor Brett Herron, Mayco Member for Transport and Urban Development, said:  “The City is doing all we can to address the challenges the urban rail system is facing, given that our mandate in this respect is limited to a supporting role at this stage.”  Mnisi said that there were “no discussions with the City of Cape Town”, but that the department was “in continuous engagement with the MEC for Transport in the Western Cape to ensure that we collectively find an amicable solution towards the challenges experienced by commuters in the Western Cape rail corridor”.

• Read this report by Aidan Jones in full at GroundUp

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