Cape Town train crisis: More resources needed to keep passengers and infrastructure safe

Issued by Bonginkosi Madikizela – DA Western Cape Provincial Leader
02 Aug 2018 in News

Today the Democratic Alliance conducted an oversight inspection at the Cape Town Train Station to survey the damage to trains that was caused by the vandalism this past weekend. The burnt carriages were a reminder that the trains are not safe to use by commuters.

The DA-led Western Cape and City of Cape Town have gone above and beyond to provide additional safety measures for passengers, it is now up to national government to support our efforts by providing additional resources.

Earlier this week the City of Cape Town announced the approval of an additional 100 rail enforcement officers who will focus on the safety and security of Metrorail commuters and infrastructure.

Despite the effort of the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Provincial Government to provide more safety and security, the Railway Safety Regulator raised the issue of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) operating without valid safety permits. This is serious violation of our citizen’s right to use public transport safely. The fact that a public service like PRASA, which is supposed to help people with their daily commute, is unable to ensure that its service is safe to use is shocking.

Under a DA national government we would delegate the safety of train infrastructure, commuters and staff to the metro government as clearly the current government is unable to properly manage and operate the rail system.

The safety of our people is the number one priority and should be the focus of all efforts towards a functioning rail system. We call on national government to deploy additional resources to the Western Cape so that we can provide people with better and safer trains.