We were excited when PRASA’s Shosholoza Meyl service between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban was reintroduced on 1 December 2023.
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After a hiatus of two years, the return of PRASA’s Shosholoza Meyl finally gave cash-strapped South Africans an affordable means of long-distance travel this December.
PRASA’S SHOSHOLOZA MEYL
Unfortunately, the dream appears to be far greater than the reality and many of these first trips have turned into nightmares for commuters so far.
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We reported on the first Jo’Burg-Cape Town trip that had to be completed by bus due to cable theft in the Western Cape. Not long thereafter, a 10-hour delay hit a train ride to KwaZulu-Natal due to the poor state of the tracks risking derailment.
THE WORST TRIP YET?
Now, a TimesLive journalist who used the train reports that he would never use PRASA’s Shosholoza Meyl ever again.
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The journalist, Maxwell Nkambule, booked a ticket for Wednesday 20 December 2023, expecting the journey take a full day. The itinerary he received when he boarded the train at 10h30, however, said they would only arrive at 04h00 on Friday 22 December.
HOURLY STOPS
The report detailed how, soon after departing Johannesburg, they stopped almost immediately in Germiston. The seemingly unforeseen stop was so long that the train stayed in Gauteng till nightfall.
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An even longer stop hit PRASA’s Shosholoza Meyl in De Aar. The train experienced some sort of mechanical malady which saw it stationary for 12 hours. There was a lengthy stop in Kimberley, too, followed by another three-hour delay in Beaufort West.
HEATED EXCHANGES
Nkambule said there were heated exchanges between staff and customers after the lengthy delays. Drinking water ran out and the toilets eventually ceased working. Several 1.5-litre bottles of water were eventually handed out to passengers.
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To add insult to injury for PRASA’s Shosholoza Meyl, buses were eventually dispatched to transport passengers the final leg of the way from Beaufort West to Cape Town on Friday morning.
UP AND DOWN GRADIENTS
In the aftermath of the 46-hour nightmare trip, PRASA did confirm the following:
- The company anticipated the trip would take 46 hours due to network challenges en route.
- A faulty locomotive needed to be fixed in De Aar by PRASA technicians.
- The train needed to be refilled with water in Kimberley.
- The long Cape Town route has a number of up and down gradients that can affect the locomotives badly.
- Contingency buses were arranged for passengers from Beaufort West to Cape Town on Friday morning.
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What do you think of PRASA’s Shosholoza Meyl being rushed back into service when it clearly was not ready? Be sure to share your thoughts with our audience in the comments section below. And don’t forget to follow us @TheSANews on X and The South African on Facebook for the latest updates.
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