The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has showcased improvements to commuter rail services in Gauteng and launched a new fleet of long-distance buses as the government seeks to improve the reliability, safety and affordability of public transport.
The initiatives were highlighted during an oversight visit led by Transport Minister Barbara Creecy as part of October Transport Month, which this year is themed “Building a safe, sustainable, reliable and affordable transport system”.
The visit included PRASA’s Centralised Train Control Centre, the Mabopane rail corridor and the launch of 17 new City to City buses serving long-distance routes connecting Gauteng with the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
Creecy said Transport Month provided an opportunity to demonstrate how the department’s entities affected the daily lives of South Africans.
“This month invites us to reflect on how South Africans move and what public transport makes possible in their lives,” she said.
The minister said the restoration of passenger rail services had improved the ability of commuters to travel to work and school safely and arrive on time.
She also highlighted the affordability of train travel, citing a R7 fare for a journey from Mabopane to Pretoria central.
The fare forms part of efforts to provide commuters with an affordable alternative to road transport amid rising fuel costs.
The recovery of passenger rail services follows significant disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic, which left many services unreliable or unavailable. Services on the Mabopane corridor resumed in June 2022, with further expansion in July 2023.
According to Creecy, the restoration of the rail network has required substantial public investment.
“Behind this recovery lies a massive public investment. Over the last three years in Gauteng, we have spent R3-billion to restore the rail network,” she said.
The investment has also created more than 8,000 direct and indirect jobs, she added.
The refurbishment programme has included R800-million in electrical equipment, work on 163km of overhead electrical infrastructure and the refurbishment of substations.
Creecy said the upgrades had improved the network’s capacity and operational performance.
“What we have here is a network that is much more impactful than the one we had before,” she said.
Upgrades to signalling systems have also helped increase the number of train services operating on the Mabopane line.
The corridor recorded 613 train trips in 1989, compared with 17,800 in 2026, according to figures presented during the visit. It carried 5.2-million passenger trips over the course of a year, with PRASA estimating that the figure would rise to 10-million this year.
Train cancellations on the corridor are below 1%, while customer satisfaction stands at about 70%, according to the figures presented.
PRASA has also introduced security measures to protect railway infrastructure against theft and vandalism. These include a 3.5m-high security wall, constructed with the involvement of 234 workers and 22 small businesses.
Changes to signalling infrastructure have reduced the amount of copper used in the system, making it less attractive to thieves targeting railway cables.
“What this has done is that it has made the signalling [wires] much less attractive to those who would steal the cabling for copper content,” Creecy said.
The government has also sought to improve long-distance passenger transport, with the launch of 17 new City to City buses.
The buses are equipped with toilets, Wi-Fi, charging points, air conditioning, reclining seats and seatbelts.
Creecy said the new fleet would improve passenger comfort and safety while reducing fuel consumption.
“Of course, these brand-new buses are more fuel-efficient and have things that promote the safety of the driver and passengers,” she said.
The launch forms part of PRASA’s broader efforts to rebuild its long-distance passenger services alongside its commuter rail operations.
Gauteng Transport MEC Kedibone Diale also highlighted the potential for commuters to combine different rail services, including Metrorail and the Gautrain, to make journeys across the province more convenient.
Plans to extend the commuter rail network include adding stations at Soshanguve and Wonderboom, with the aim of improving access and making the services more user-friendly.
Creecy said rebuilding the country’s passenger rail network remained an ongoing process, but the investment was intended to strengthen public transport as an affordable and reliable option for commuters.