Western Cape Cosatu plans march to Prasa over delays to restore central rail

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Western Cape on Monday announced that it was planning a march to the Passenger Railway Agency of South Africa (Prasa) office for the parastatal to take accountability for the delay in getting the central rail line back up and running.

Union representatives said they were tired of empty promises and wanted the train service back on track.

The central line became defunct in 2019 and efforts to restore it have been slow as vandalism and theft had hindered its progress.

The line is a crucial route, connected to big townships such as Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, where majority of residents rely on trains to commute.

Cosatu said it had approached Prasa bosses almost two years ago where promises were made that the central line would be fixed.

While plans, by the parastatal, are now afoot to complete the repairs to the busy line, the union’s Malvern de Bruyn said they had heard the promise before.

“We want them to also tell us how soon they will fix the problem and what measures are going to be put in place to protect the infrastructure. Unfortunately, there was no reply from them on when these would be resolved.”

During his visit to Cape Town last month, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula went on an oversight visit to a partially completed train line where he was assured by Prasa that the line would be restored in phases.

-EWN

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