Prasa ‘ready’ to start ferrying commuters on Wednesday
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) is set to resume train operations from Wednesday morning.
South Africans have been without train services since President Cyril Ramaphosa instituted the Covid-19 lockdown in March.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, speaking in Pretoria on Tuesday during an inspection of Prasa’s readiness to resume activities on July 1, said at this stage operations will be limited to four lines.
These are Cape Town, Pretoria, East London and Port Elizabeth.
"I'm quite edgy, it is not a moment of excitement, it is a moment of saying our people are going to be exposed and do we have the capacity?,” Mbalula said.
"What I have seen here, I see preparations. I'm saying job well done to the staff of Prasa that is going to undertake this job.”
The minister said the biggest challenge will be the monitoring of commuters when the operations resume on Wednesday morning.
"The devil is going to be in the implementation when thousand of people arrive here in the morning. Will we do what is meant to do?... No mask no ride. “