Railway commuters thrilled about return of trains to Pretoria

Train commuters in Mabopane were thrilled to be joined by transport minister Fikile Mbalula aboard their morning train to Pretoria on Wednesday.

Mbalula, accompanied by Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) management, visited the Mabopane station north of Pretoria and hopped onto the 6.20am train to Pretoria to assess the service, which started operating this week after a two-year suspension.

Commuter Koketso Nyathela, 29, from Soshanguve, said residents must learn to protect rail infrastructure or they will be left without affordable transport.

“I hope we have all learnt a lesson because a taxi is so expensive. Other people had to resign because they could not afford taxi fare, it was really tough,” she said, adding that it is the responsibility of commuters to protect their stations.

“We cannot be OK with watching people vandalising infrastructure or property. This time we really learnt the hard way, it was tough without the train.”

In some cases, commuters have been forced to spend five times more on transport using minibus taxis and buses.

Joseph Sibiya, 36, from Soshanguve, told Sowetan he has been praying for trains to return as he feared being killed by a taxi driver.

“Thank God we will rest from being harassed by taxi drivers who smoke nyaope — goodbye jukulyn taxi drivers, nie meer,” he said.

“Metrorail train drivers all come to work sober, they respect commuters and provide better services.”

Ronald Sekonya, 30, a Mabopane resident, said he was happy that security measures have been prioritised.

“We would like to see more security measures being improved,” he said.

SowetanLIVE