Train commuters were on Tuesday stuck with further delays on all routes after eight train carriages were set alight at Cape Town station.<\/p>\n
In a service alert on its Twitter account, Metrorail said residual delays of “60+” minutes were being experienced in the region.<\/p>\n
Two trains (eight carriages) were set alight and shops looted on Monday night, when commuters went on the rampage in reaction to lengthy delays.<\/p>\n
Platforms 15 and 16 remained closed, while officials assess the damage.<\/p>\n
Metrorail confirmed that several shops had been trashed and looted in the mayhem on Monday evening. Access gates were destroyed.<\/p>\n
Police officers and rail protection services had to disperse crowds.\u00a0One suspect, according to Metrorail, was apprehended.\u00a0However, Western Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said no one had yet been arrested.<\/p>\n
Regional Metrorail manager Richard Walker apologised to affected customers, but condemned the destruction of property.<\/p>\n
“We acknowledge that commuters have legitimate service concerns but we can never condone criminality.”<\/p>\n
He said their reduced capacity would be further depleted.<\/p>\n
The delays on Monday night were the result of defective 11kV electrical feeds.<\/p>\n
Between 14:00 and 20:00, two of the four feeds had not functioned, overloading the remaining two feeds and tripping electricity. This halted trains all over the network.<\/p>\n
Some trains were delayed by more than two hours.<\/p>\n
Trains on the Monte Vista line and to the southern suburbs also eventually could not operate.<\/p>\n
Walker said technicians managed to restore power feeds at 20:52 and trains started to operate.<\/p>\n
The torching occurred minutes later.<\/p>\n
‘Action must be taken’<\/strong><\/p>\n The United National Transport Union (UNTU) demanded that Walker resign immediately.<\/p>\n General secretary Steve Harris said Metrorail did not warn commuters about the problem with the feed for hours.<\/p>\n This led to commuters agitated as queues grew longer, with some attacking staff and property.<\/p>\n Some even went looking for the train drivers and ticket control officers in their rest rooms.<\/p>\n “UNTU has repeatedly warned Prasa that this situation is a tragedy waiting to happen. Action must be taken now before more innocent people die,” Harris said.<\/p>\n The union felt Walker had not created a safe working environment for its employees.<\/p>\n Harris said they had applied to the Western Cape High Court to force the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) to implement reasonable safe measures to protect staff.<\/p>\n A date has not yet been set for the application to be heard.<\/p>\n Harris will write a letter to Prasa to set out their demand for Walker to resign.<\/p>\n Commuters in possession of monthly and weekly tickets could use Golden Arrow buses between 08:00 and 16:00.<\/p>\n