The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa)
plans to spend R6.5 billion to fence railways in urban areas with concrete, in
a bid to improve its revenue.
The state-owned business is facing an uphill battle
to improve finances, with a loss of approximately R1.8 billion for the financial year.
The head of Prasa’s “war room”, Sipho
Sithole, said that vandalism is one of its biggest obstacles.
Because various railway lines in metropolitan areas
are unfenced, people steal the copper from the railways, or use Prasa’s train
services for free.
To address this, the state-owned entity is planning
to spend the R6.5 billion over three years to fence railway lines in urban
areas with concrete blocks, Sithole said.
The concrete blocks will be difficult to break down
and use again, say for building informal housing, and so promises to be a
lasting solution.
When lines are successfully fenced, Prasa expects
that revenues will increase by R4.6 billion a year as commuters will no longer
be able to use the service for free by jumping off before stations where
tickets are checked, now a regular occurrence.
Fences will also lead to a decline in vandalism
which will reduce delays caused by signalling cables being stolen, Prasa
believes.
“We will then be able to start recovering all the
passengers we’ve lost over the years, and start making rail the transport of
choice,” Sithole said.
Prasa’s head of tech Mava Xolo said tenders for the
fencing for the Metrorail railways should go out by the end of the year.
Thereafter it should take between 12 to 18 months to fence off entire sections of the Prasa railways in metropolitan areas. https://www.businessinsider.co.za/prasa-railway-lines-metrorail-cape-town-johannesburg-durban-vandalism-train-r65-billion-prasa-war-room-2019-10
