Cape Town - Metrorail southern line commuters will have to go an entire week without access to the public transport service, following yet another act of vandalism at one of its stations on the line in the early hours of on Monday morning.
Metrorail Western Cape officials have already begun work and repairs at False Bay train station after cable thieves vandalised and damaged live system lines whilst attempting to flee from the scene of their crime.
The incident which caused damage to the tune of at least R1 million also resulted in the group suspending its services for a week.
Metrorail spokesperson Nana Zenani said: “Protection services officials were attempting to prevent the theft of an 11 kilovolt (KV) line, when the suspects threw a line they had cut on to live 3kv overhead electric wires, causing extensive damage to four mast poles.”
“For the remainder of the week, Metrorail will not be able to run services on the southern line, specifically between Retreat and Fishhoek. While we are prioritising the repairs on the line to get the service running, the suspension of the line will last at least 1 week while the budget will have to come from money set aside for normal operations. Damage to the mast poles and overhead electrical lines is estimated at approximately R1 million,” she said.
Since the beginning of the year, Metrorail’s security forces have apprehended 774 suspects for crimes ranging from cable theft and vandalism to infrastructure.
“The illicit copper trade is thriving with impunity with copper pricing on the market at between R80 and R90 a kilogram, and without cables we can’t operate effectively,” said Zenani.
Currently, Metrorail has no set date for fully restoring its complete services on any of its lines.
“The challenge is the ongoing vandalism of the lines and stealing of copper cables. This makes us unable to increase trains. If communities and businesses do not assist in stopping the rampant vandalism, the Western Cape will be without a passenger rail service. Rail is the only source of mass movement and without it, commuters will continue to pay higher transportation costs,” said Zenani.