GroundUp and The Outlier report that by 2021, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) had collapsed. With corruption and mismanagement having taken hold over the previous ten years, the rail service became increasingly unreliable and unsafe.

Almost all of Prasa’s customers stopped using the train in this period, with many opting for more expensive but reliable taxi and bus services. Infrastructure decayed without being maintained or replaced. Security contracts were allowed to lapse, leading to widespread vandalism. The Covid pandemic saw the final destruction of the rail service. Since then, there has been some improvement. Rail lines have been restored, new trains have been procured, and more people are taking the train. But, some lines and stations, especially in the Eastern Cape, have yet to be brought back into service. Last year, 75-million train trips were made by passengers, still a long way from the 400-million annual trips a decade ago.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard and view a graph of train trips at GroundUp

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