Africa-Press – South-Africa. Having spent its entire capital budget allocation, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) has set a target of having close to 80% of its original 40 operational corridors functioning by March 2024.
The railway utility is currently operating limited train services on 18 lines – while at the end of March 2022, it was running just five train services that transported about 15 million passengers. It is aiming to add another five million by next year, taking the total to 20 million.
At its height, Prasa transported more than 500 million passengers in the year ended March 2015.
There are currently eight operating lines in the Western Cape, six in Gauteng and four in KwaZulu-Natal. Prasa is focusing on rebuilding and modernising 33 train stations this year and fencing off some of its depots and maintenance yards in these areas.
“We are targeting to be operating 32 corridors by the end of this financial year,” Prasa group chief executive officer Hishaam Emeran told the transport portfolio committee of parliament on Tuesday.
This will bring the total to 80% of the train services the utility operated before the national lockdown began in March 2020.
Railway infrastructure, including electrical cabling and railway tracks, was looted and carted away either for sale as scrap metal or cable, while station infrastructure was stolen and carried off for building purposes elsewhere.
In the financial year ended March 2023 the utility achieved 59% of the operational targets that had been set by its board, compared to only 18% of the targets achieved during the previous year.
Emeran said:
To continue increasing passenger numbers, Prasa is investing in capital infrastructure and additional security for train lines. During the year ended March 2023, Prasa exceeded its budgeted capital expenditure, with R13.5 billion having been spent on capital infrastructure, compared to the R12.6 billion allocated.
Emeran added:
The utility is aiming to have a total of 215 train sets operational by next year.
There were 146 train sets running as of March 2023. The trains are being produced at Dunnottar outside Nigel in eastern Gauteng. “The factory has now ramped up its capability and is able to produce 60 trains a year. The local content on these is 67%,” said Emeran.
Prasa is now prioritising the restoration of its signalling infrastructure, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, where an estimated R4 billion signalling tender is currently under consideration. Restoring the signalling will help improve operational safety and enable the utility to put more trains on the tracks, which would help attract more passengers to the railway.
“It is very critical going forward now to recover the signalling system as this will ensure we operate safely and return passengers to rail,” said Emeran. “Once we have fixed the signalling and placed the trains on the line, passengers will return to rail and that will significantly increase revenues and help stabilise the finances.”
The utility has also filled some critical vacancies at its executive and senior management levels. These include the appointments of the company secretary, the heads of audit and of human resources, among others. Emeran himself was only appointed as chief executive earlier this year after the utility terminated the services of its previous chief executive Zolani Matthews.
Following the dismissal of Leonard Ramatlakane by the transport minister last week, Nosizwe Nokwe-Macamo has been appointed as interim chairperson.
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