News24 reports that Transport Minister Blade Nzimande said on Friday that Cape Town’s rail transport "situation" was the worst in the country.  

He was conducting a walkabout at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA’s (Prasa’s) Paarden Eiland depot, where he viewed the damage to the state-owned enterprise's infrastructure caused during various arson attacks.  The torching of trains and other vandalism has become so severe that Metrorail's central line, which previously had 33 trains transporting commuters in Cape Town, is now down to only eight.  Nzimande, flanked by provincial Transport and Public Works MEC Donald Grant and mayoral committee member for transport and urban development Brett Herron, said all three tiers of government were working together to deal with the vandalism.  In the most recent incident, five carriages and overhead power cables were damaged when a train was torched at Retreat station on Thursday.  Herron said the "displacement" of train commuters onto the road network was causing huge congestion and putting strain on public transport modes such as buses and taxis.  A transport imbizo is planned for September.

• Read this report by Tammy Petersen in full at News24

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