Metrorail (South Africa)
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Metrorail is the commuter rail service in the major urban areas of South Africa. Metrorail is a business unit of Transnet, the parastatal responsible for the South African transport infrastructure. The Metrorail system consists of 471 stations, 2228km of track, and carries an average of 1.7 million passengers per weekday [1].
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[edit] Regions
Because Metrorail operates services in several separate cities, for operational purposes it is subdivided into five regions.
- Witwatersrand region
This region covers the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area (also known as the Witwatersrand). Trains run from Johannesburg and Germiston outwards to Springs, Pretoria (in the Tshwane region, see below), Soweto and Krugersdorp. [2]
- Tshwane region
This region covers Pretoria and surrounding suburbs. Trains run from Pretoria station outwards to the various suburbs of the city, as well as southwards to Johannesburg (in the Witwatersrand region). [3]
- Durban region
This region covers Durban and the surrounding suburbs and towns. Trains run from Durban station outwards as far as Stanger on the north coast, Kelso on the south coast, and Cato Ridge inland. [4]
- Eastern Cape region
This region operates two separate lines in the Eastern Cape: one running from East London to Berlin, and one from Port Elizabeth to Uitenhage. [5]
- Western Cape region
This region covers the Cape Town metropolitan area and surrounding towns. Trains run from Cape Town Railway Station southwards to Simon's Town, southeastwards to Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha, and eastwards through Bellville to Strand, Stellenbosch and Wellington; occasional services run to Malmesbury and Worcester. [6], [7]
[edit] Track & Equipment
Metrorail trains, as with the rest of the South African rail network, run on Cape gauge (1067mm/3ft 6in) track. Some routes run on track owned and operated by Metrorail; other routes run on track operated by Spoornet and also used for long-distance and freight traffic.
Metrorail trains are Electric Multiple Units; 280 units operate on the system [8], each able to carry up to 1800 passengers [9].
[edit] Safety concerns
In recent years, much concern has been raised about the safety of passengers on Metrorail trains, both due to crime and accidents [10], [11]. Serious incidents include murders and assaults on board trains; several level crossing accidents [12], [13]; and a crash in Soweto [14]. An organisation called the Rail Commuters Action Group instituted a lawsuit against Metrorail and the government to force them to invest more money in security [15]; this case reached the Constitutional Court, which declared that Metrorail has "an obligation to ensure that reasonable measures are taken to provide for the security of rail commuters" [16]. Despite this, safety on the trains remains a concern [17].
Metrorail services have also suffered from instances of train-burning by disgruntled passengers [18], in some cases forcing the closure of lines [19]; as well as incidents of cable theft disrupting services [20].
In 2006 a serious level crossing accident killed 19 people. See 2006 Cape Town truck-train collision.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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