Cape Times reports that three train carriages caught fire at Cape Town’s Steenberg station on Monday, resulting in about four-hour delays as officials were kept busy clearing the debris.  

No one was injured and fire and emergency rescue services safely evacuated commuters from the train.  Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said the cause of the fire and estimates of damage would be assessed during post-incident investigations.  Rewards of up to R25,000 were payable for information leading to successful convictions of arson, Scott indicated.  The incident resulted in the Simon’s Town trains from Cape Town terminating at Retreat train station; trains then operated on a single line between Retreat and Fish Hoek.  Bus shuttle services were used to ferry commuters between Fish Hoek and Simon’s Town.  The incident came less than a month after another Metrorail train was set alight near Ottery station,

• Read this report by Sandiso Phaliso at Cape Times
• See too, Three railway coaches set alight at a Cape Town train station on Monday, at News24
• And also, Metrorail estimates carriage damage at R8m in suspected arson attack, at EWN

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page