News24 reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for practical and urgent action to deal with problems plaguing the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).  

This came after Ramaphosa was delayed for three hours on a suburban train last week while on his ANC campaign blitz.  On Tuesday at a meeting with Transport Minister Blade Nzimande, Ramaphosa told him that there needed to be urgency in dealing with the deterioration of infrastructure and the "unacceptable delays of train services, which often result in commuters arriving late for work, school and other commitments".  Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko said:  "There is no reason commuters should have to endure frequent delays or feel unsafe on our trains.  This is a problem that we can work together to solve."  At the meeting Ramaphosa called for urgent action to be taken to bridge the gap between the turnaround strategies developed and their day-to-day implementation.  He also directed that a capable and skilled team of specialists be established to conduct due diligence on the rail network to determine the extent of challenges.  Nzimande is expected to make announcements in due course on the delivery of these commitments and other actions to be undertaken to restore service performance at Prasa.

• Read the full original of Kamva Somdyala’s report in the above regard at News24

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