PRASA says significant progress made to revive CT's train services, Winde optimistic on Metrorail's future

CAPE TOWN - The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) said that significant inroads had been made to revive train services in Cape Town.
 
PRASA officials took Western Cape Premier Alan Winde on a train ride from Bellville to Cape Town on Monday to assess the progress made so far, as part of Transport Month initiatives.

Before Metrorail trains were brought to a halt by vandalism, infrastructure theft, and the COVID-19 pandemic more than four years ago, at least 700,000 people used trains every day across the metro.
 
PRASA said that at the beginning of the year when full train services were brought back to certain corridors, at least 50,000 people used trains daily.
 
The rail agency said that since August, that number had more than doubled.
 
Premier Winde said that while it was still a long way to go, he was optimistic about Metrorail's future.
 
"We need to get back to where we were, at 650,000 and let's hit a target of a million people moving in this city. If anybody in this city understands anything, on Friday it took one truck crash and the whole city came to a standstill. Why? Because it's one mode of transport."
 
Winde said that there was still a lot of room for improvement.