Pretoria - Train commuters burst into song and celebration this morning as the De Wildt/Ga-Rankuwa line that connects to the Mabopane corridor reopened.
With taxis costing R30 from Ga-Rankuwa to Pretoria, it came as no surprise that those who struggled to afford the fare would bask in joy knowing they could get to town for less than R10.
Videos of commuters singing and celebrating inside the train as well as outside as they arrived were circulating on social media early in the morning.
It was the modern blue trains, The People's Train, which excited commuters in Ga-Rankuwa who have not taken a train ride from their stations in nearly two years.
Train commuters burst into song and celebration this morning as the De Wildt/Ga-Rankuwa railway line that connects to the Mabopane corridor reopened. #Prasa #trains #rail @MbalulaFikile @CityTshwane #taxi pic.twitter.com/2cWjloQ21h
They sang gospel songs and cheered and ululated as the doors opened while automated voice commands gave instructions.
Spokesperson for the Passenger Railway Agency of South, Andiswa Makanda, who took a train from Pretoria to Ga-Rankuwa, said they ran trial operations following a no-objection certificate from the Railway Safety Regulator last week.
Trial operation proved to he a success and set the Gauteng region ready to introduce a commercial service with the new high-tech electrical motor unit trains.
“What we saw was commuters and the community really expressing a sense of relief and joy to have the trains which is the most cost effective mode of transport because they have been crying about the high cost of living and high cost of transportation.”
The reopening of this line comes right on the heels of the recovery of the Pienaarspoort to Pretoria service. The Ga-Rankuwa line covers Talliarsdhoop, Rosslyn, Wolmerton and Hercules stations, to name just a few.
Train commuters burst into song and celebration this morning as the De Wildt/Ga-Rankuwa railway line that connects to the Mabopane corridor reopened. #Prasa #trains #rail @MbalulaFikile @CityTshwane #taxi pic.twitter.com/2FM2RtRx2O
Makanda said the reason why they had the theft and vandalism which killed operations at the corridors was because of the cancellation of improper security contracts which resulted in no physical security guards guarding the infrastructure.
That presented an opportunity for some syndicates with knowledge of how rail infrastructure worked to come and steal and vandalise. That has since been addressed and a lot of boots are on the ground day and night guarding rail infrastructure to ensure that history does not repeat itself.
However, due to the signalling project taking place between Hercules and Pretoria station, commuters travelling to Pretoria West and Pretoria Station can take the Mabopane train from Hercules station.
Makanda said, Prasa as its recovery strategy, has adopted a phased-in approach in rebuilding the passenger rail corridors that were decimated during the hard lockdown because of Covid-19.
Makanda said what was of a positive note was that since the implementation of the integrated security plan, Prasa has not experienced any theft or vandalism of its network.
Moreover, since the recovery of the corridors and the reopening of the lines, Metrorail has transported around 4.1 million passengers and operated 30 million train trips, and 1096 job opportunities were created through the recovery projects.
Commuters, Sello Selaelo and David Mokidwa, said they were happy and out of words to express their joy because they were going to cut their transport costs from a near R100 a day to less than R20.
“Imagine you pay R9.50 to get to Bosman station in Pretoria. That is a big steal compared to R30 for just one trip and you still need to take a local taxi for more money. We needed this. We have been waiting for a long time. We cannot afford taxis anymore,” said Modikwa.
Lerato Maduma said: “I am a domestic helper in Hercules and this makes a huge difference in my life. I work three days a week so I was not enjoying paying so much money just to get to work. The worst part is that even though I was going to Hercules I paid the full fare for Pretoria but I was always getting off on the highway. Trains are very affordable.”
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