Cape Town - Good news for train commuters who used to make use of the Stellenbosch line – the service is expected to be up and running by the end of February.
This was revealed by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), which is on a mission to resurrect the train service in the province.
The service was supposed to resume at the end of last year, but flooding during the year washed the tracks away.
Acting regional manager Raymond Maseko confirmed that the line would be opened before the end of February.
According to Maseko, both Stellenbosch and Du Toit stations require basic cleaning and repairs.
“We repaired the major vandalism on both stations already. However, they just need their facilities to be cleaned.
“Prasa has a refurbishment programme that will address additional platforms at Stellenbosch. This programme will run in the 2024/2025 financial year,” Maseko said.
The Stellenbosch line is one of several train routes gradually reopened by Prasa since the public entity took a massive knock during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Southern line somewhat resumed in July 2020 and turned out to be generally functional in January 2022, but with far fewer trains than there used to be.
The Northern line to some degree continued to slowly open up in 2022 and further expanded the service in January 2023.
The Central Line is still not operational as Prasa is still in the process of relocating the Central Line squatters in Philippi.
Stellenbosch Municipality has welcomed Prasa’s announcement on the potential commencement of train services in Stellenbosch within the coming months.
Stuart Grobbelaar, a municipal spokesperson, said this comes after years of interruption and a breakdown in Prasa’s service to many towns and regions.
“We are happy that our requests and meetings over the years seem to now be leading to action,” he said.
Grobbelaar added that this would surely relieve some congestion in the area.
“The reopening will greatly aid our residents, student, and visitors in commuting, easing traffic congestion on our roads,” Grobbelaar said.
byron.lukas@inl.co.za