Passenger trains making a comeback in one of South Africa’s biggest cities

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) is accelerating R11 billion in projects to enhance passenger rail services across the country, including a R2 billion rehabilitation programme in Durban.

Mayor of eThekwini Cyril Xaba joined members of the municipality’s Executive Committee (EXCO) and PRASA management on a ride-along from Durban Station to Umlazi to assess the condition of the corridor.

Xaba commended PRASA for the progress being made to modernise the corridor’s signalling and telecommunications systems.

“The entity is also investing approximately R2 billion in the rehabilitation of the Umlazi Corridor, which carries the largest number of train passengers in the province,” the municipality said.

“The signalling and telecommunications programme is expected to significantly improve the safety, reliability, and scheduling of train services.”

Once completed, the revitalisation project will enable trains to run in three- to five-minute intervals, supporting annual passenger numbers growing from the current 1.8 million to a projected 10 million.

In anticipation of this increased demand, the Passenger Rail Agency has already procured an additional 101 trains to operate along the province’s rail network.

Next month, PRASA will officially unveil the first section where it has completed signalling upgrades, with six more to follow.

The first section that will be unveiled will cover the corridor from Crossmoor to Havenside, while the second section will cover the Rossburgh to Pinetown corridor.

Xaba thanked the Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, extending his thanks to the PRASA management for the investments made to enhance passenger rail operations in the city.

“This investment is crucial because trains are the most preferred mode of transport for poor and working-class communities,” said Xaba.

He added that the rail network revitalisation has been critical for building an integrated, safe and reliable public transport system in the City of Durban.

PRASA to acquire hundreds more trains

The 101 new trains PRASA is acquiring will add to the 600 it appointed Gibela Rail Transport Consortium to manufacture.

According to the Passenger Rail Agency’s CEO, Hishaam Emeran, the agency will take control of the factory where they will be built once the contract with Gibela ends.

As a result, South Africa will start manufacturing its own passenger trains, since the African Union (AU) appointed the country as the rolling stock manufacturing hub for the continent and beyond.

“These trains are not only built in South Africa, but we’ve also ensured that the local content within these trains is sourced locally and not imported from across the world,” explained the CEO.

Responding to a question from BRICS Channel Africa about PRASA’s rollout readiness, Emeran noted that more work is needed before widespread rollout is possible.

“We’ve obviously started engaging with many of our partners in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region,” he confirmed.

The CEO added that PRASA will share both its new rolling stock fleet as well as its existing fleet with the rest of the SADC region, since the agency currently has a surplus of trains.

He added that there are opportunities to run these surplus trains in other African countries, since they are still operational and still have enough of a lifespan.

Emeran admitted that while it is an exciting time for rail and passenger rail in Africa, considering the significant growth seen in the last two or three years, there is still a lot that needs to be done.

“A lot more work needs to be done in terms of ensuring not only that we have the manufacturing facility, but that we have the right structures in place to ensure we can execute those decisions,” he said.