Cape Town central line recovery created more than 2,500 jobs: Creecy
More than 2,500 jobs have been created during the recovery of the Cape Town central line, transport minister Barbara Creecy said during its official reopening on Thursday.
Creecy said this meant a direct contribution to the local economy.
The central line from Chris Hani to Cape Town city reopened after it shut down for four years due to cable theft and vandalism. Its reopening comes after extensive repair work on stations, substations and overhead traction electrification systems.
The central line is Cape Town's most important rail corridor. It connects the communities of Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain to the Cape Town CBD and Bellville CBD. At full capacity the line contributes 350,000 of Cape Town's 685,900 daily passenger trips.
The process of recovering the central line corridor has so far cost R1.3bn, said Creecy.
The recovery of the line is more than the reopening of a rail line, she said. 'It is the return of dignity, mobility and hope for the working-class people of Cape Town.
'There are now two trains departing Chris Hani Station per hour on the central line. But as we increase our signalling capacity, we hope to run an optimal service where we have six trains per hour.'
'The recovery of the line had lot of challenges, including illegal occupation, vandalism of infrastructure and a grim security environment. Today the train ride from Chris Hani station to Cape Town station is a safe, reliable and modern rail corridor that again connects people to opportunities to work and to education,' she said.
Creecy said the reopening of lines has led to a significant increase in passenger trips nationwide, reaching 77-million over the past year. This figure is projected to reach 123-million this year, indicating a clear trajectory towards the goal of 600-million by 2030/2031.
Creecy said several initiatives are ongoing to ensure the progress made is sustained and accelerated.
'The revised rail bill [Railway Safety Bill] is in the cabinet system and once approved will be released for public comment. The bill will provide much needed clarity on the future of the rail reform process, especially in how it will affect commuters, as well as determining the modalities of possible devolution of certain rail functions.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Maverick
9 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Private sector signals big appetite for transforming SA's logistics landscape
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy's quest to revitalise South Africa's ailing logistics sector through private sector participation has gained significant traction, with the request for information generating substantial industry interest and setting the stage for major reforms. The Department of Transport's request for information (RFI), which closed on 30 May after an extension due to 'overwhelming interest', received 162 formal responses across three critical freight corridors. The RFI portal alone registered 11,600 visits, signalling a big private sector appetite for participation in South Africa's struggling rail and port infrastructure. Judging by the response breakdown, there's strong interest across all key economic corridors: 51 responses for the iron ore and manganese corridor stretching from the Northern Cape to Saldanha and Nelson Mandela Bay, 48 responses for the coal and chrome corridor linking Limpopo and Mpumalanga to Richards Bay, and 63 responses for the container and automotive intermodal corridor connecting Gauteng to Durban, the Eastern Cape and Western Cape. Creecy, who launched the RFI in March, has been clear about the government's intentions: attract private investment and expertise to bring South Africa's logistics infrastructure to world-class standards while maintaining public ownership of strategic assets. Public ownership with private custodians 'Strategic infrastructure such as rail lines and ports will remain in public ownership, as assets belonging to South African people,' she said, establishing this principle as foundational to the reform process. The minister's approach acknowledges the reality facing state-owned logistics giant Transnet — limited state resources and massive infrastructure backlogs have severely hampered the entity's ability to fulfil its mandate. The solution, according to Creecy's vision, lies in leveraging private capital and expertise while preserving state control over core infrastructure assets. Five pillars of reform The private sector participation process will be guided by five key principles that reflect broader national objectives. Reforming Transnet in accordance with the Cabinet-approved roadmap for freight logistics. This includes the unbundling of Transnet, separating the infrastructure manager from operations, to introduce open access to the freight rail network. Ensuring a just transition with maximum job retention. This highlights the department's commitment to mitigating potential negative impacts on employment during the reform process. Safeguarding state ownership of immovable assets. As mentioned, rail lines and ports will remain in public ownership. Promoting localisation and industrialisation. This aims to develop economic benefits and growth through the private sector participation projects. Supporting Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment and gender equality. This underscores the commitment to inclusive economic development and transformation within the sector. Under Creecy's leadership, the department has moved swiftly to realise this vision, establishing an interim Private Sector Participation Unit and finalising an agreement with the Development Bank of Southern Africa to host a permanent unit for managing the process. Timeline for transformation The RFI was, of course, just the opening phase gambit of reform. Requests for proposals (RFPs) for freight rail and port projects are expected by August, with the minister projecting 18 to 24 months to reach financial close on these RFPs. The endgame reform agenda is about more than freight logistics. A second RFI batch focusing on passenger rail initiatives will be released in July, covering operational areas including signalling, depots, rolling stock and high-speed rail corridors. The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) is expected to issue RFPs in October. Creecy has also outlined immediate intervention measures. Independent technical assessments have been completed for the export coal rail network and iron ore corridor, with various funding sources available for immediate rehabilitation efforts, including Transnet's current budget, the National Treasury's budget facility for infrastructure, and private investment through existing customer agreements. A great privatisation? New regulations now allow collaborations between Transnet and private sector operators for short-term interventions to repair and upgrade infrastructure, a convenient bridge while longer-term private sector participation arrangements are finalised. The strong response to the RFI shows significant private sector confidence in South Africa's logistics potential, despite years of operational challenges at Transnet that have constrained economic growth. With all submitted information being treated with strict confidentiality and used exclusively to inform PSP project development, the stage appears set for a fundamental transformation of SA's logistics landscape. DM
IOL News
3 days ago
- IOL News
Driving licence printing machine fixed but huge backlogs remain
The Department of Transport has repaired the driving licence card printing machine after months of downtime, but a significant backlog of unprinted cards remains. Image: File Millions have been spent on repairing and maintaining the driving licence card printing machine. The Department of Transport announced earlier last month that the driving licence printing machine was fixed and operations have resumed. The machine had been inoperative since February 5, resulting in a backlog of 747,748 unprinted cards. To reduce the backlog, the Department of Transport's Driving Licence Card Agency extended the working hours of its staff members. In light of this, in a parliamentary question and reply, Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi asked Transport Minister Barbara Creecy about the number of times the machine broke down and how much it cost to repair it. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Zibi then asked how many employees it takes to operate the machine and how much overtime pay has been paid to employees due to lost printing time because of machine breakdowns. Zibi also asked Creecy if there was progress in acquiring a new card machine. Creecy said the backlog of driving licences as of May 15 was estimated at 733,000 cards. Creecy revealed the machine's major breakdowns in the past financial year are as follows: 2022/23 - 26 working days 2023/24 - 48 working days 2024/25 - 17 working days 2025/26 - 38 working days Over the same period, repairs and maintenance costs: 2022/23 - R9,267,862,33 2023/24 - R1,651,772,57 2024/25 - R544,747,64 2025/26 - R624,988,10 (to date) Overtime payment, over the last few financial years, has been: 2022/23 - R1,435,376,79 2023/24 - R1,608,102,52 2024/25 - R1,351,473,78 2025/26 - R0,00 Creecy said it takes four people to operate the machine. About progress made with the process to acquire a new driving licence card printing machine, Creecy said: 'The Minister has directed that a declaratory order be sought from a competent court on the tender to acquire a new machine, in order to ensure that no further irregular expenditure occurs.'
Eyewitness News
7 days ago
- Eyewitness News
PRASA reveals it's spent R1.3bn so far on getting CT's central line back on track
CAPE TOWN - The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) said it spent R1.3 billion so far to ensure that train services on Cape Town's central line were back on track. It's the busiest train corridor in the Western Cape, transporting more than 600,000 passengers daily during peak times. The central line was brought to its knees by illegal occupation of railway tracks and infrastructure vandalism just before the COVID-19 pandemic. ALSO READ: • Creecy hails reopening of Chris Hani rail corridor on CT's central line as a critical milestone • After Chris Hani rail corridor reopened, Hill-Lewis keen to see full train service resume in CT • Crucial link in Cape Town's central rail network reopens PRASA officials said they'd made inroads in recovering almost all train services, except for three train stations. Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, together with PRASA officials, went on a train ride on Thursday from the Chris Hani train station in Khayelitsha to the Cape Town CBD. This was part of the re-launch of train services to this leg of the city's central line. PRASA CEO Hishaam Emeran said that the R1.3 billion spent excluded the procurement of new trains. "It's mainly on the infrastructure recovery. Rebuilding the tracks, looking at our electrical infrastructure, the overhead lines and our substations that we had to rebuild, the passenger stations that we had to rebuild." He added that that full train services should be restored by the end of July on all rail networks in the Mother City.
