The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) says it has restored another five Metrorail corridors across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.

These rail services were interrupted by Covid-19, vandalism, crime and poor maintenance practices under previous management teams.

The services restored as of the end of March are Cape Town to Stellenbosch (Western Cape); Merebank to Chatsglen (KwaZulu-Natal); Johannesburg to Florida (Gauteng); Johannesburg to Nancefield (Gauteng); and Germiston to Elsburg (Gauteng).

The addition of the new lines means that PRASA has now returned 31 of a planned 40 lines back into partial operation.

The agency says it is “focused on achieving full operational status for these corridors”.

Full operational status would mean running more trains at higher frequencies throughout the day.

Pivotal to this would be the roll-out of new and/or upgraded signalling systems. PRASA says it is “actively working” to repair vandalised signalling equipment.

“Significant progress is being made on the Central Line [in Cape Town], with ongoing efforts to rehabilitate rail infrastructure from Phillippi to Nolungile, and onwards to Chris Hani,” adds PRASA in a statement.

“This work has been facilitated by the temporary relocation of 891 households from

the Phillippi station area, enabling us to proceed with necessary recovery work.

“This work builds on the recovery of the Cape Town to Nyanga services, which marked an important milestone on what is one of the most important passenger rail routes in the country.”