Bad terrain halts railway plans
PLANS for two business express trains to alleviate traffic congestion on the N3 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg are stagnant because of technicalities yet to be resolved, Kwazulunatal Transport MEC Mxolisi Kaunda told the provincial parliament last week.
He said engineers were working on resolving the issue of the terrain between the two cities which was “very bad”.
This meant the trains would not be able to run fast enough to get people to and from work on time.
“You know a train is unlike a bus or taxi, which can speed.
“The terrain is very bad, which doesn’t allow for a high speed train to operate,” he said.
When the trains were first announced in 2012, the promise was that it would take an hour to travel between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
“It has been reported it would take two hours because of the terrain,” said Kaunda.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has spent R32 million refurbishing two trains, which would each carry 400 passengers, have a bar-restaurant, wi-fi facilities and television sets.
The aim was to reduce traffic on the N3 as commuters left their vehicles at the Pietermaritzburg and Durban stations to commute by rail.
Prasa had initially promised that the train would start operating in 2012.
When it failed again to run in 2013, poor planning by a company that was working on putting it on the tracks was blamed.
The trains were also found to be unsuitable for the Pietermaritzburg station platform, which was too low for passengers to alight safely.
Since then there had been renovations undertaken at the station, which Kaunda indicated had not been completed.
“One technicality was relating to the platform that was built, but not aligned to the trains that were built.