‘Train ride from hell’ as whole carriage robbed

A TRAIN commuter who fell victim to a robbery by a knife-wielding gang last week said he was horrified as the train driver saw screaming passengers fight to get out of the train – but continued to pull out of the station as though nothing had happened.

In what has been described as the “train ride from hell”, a carriage full of passengers were robbed of their valuables at about 7pm on Wednesday as the train travelled between Retreat and Steenberg stations.

According to witnesses, about six men boarded the train, carrying knives, and robbed the passengers.

A man spoke to the Cape Times on condition that he remain anonymous, as his cellphone was stolen and he feared the robbers would use personal information on his phone to track him down.

He said once the robbers fled, people hurried out of the Metro Plus carriage and shouted for security, to no avail.

“What shocked me more… was that the train driver in the rear carriage saw all this happening and, while everyone was standing in shock on the platform, (the driver) simply closed the train doors and pulled out of the station,” he said.

The man said the robbers were not wearing masks and their faces were clearly identifiable. He has since laid a charge with police.

Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said no arrests had been made and police were investigating.

Metrorail regional manager Richard Walker denied that the driver would have pulled out of the station if he had seen what had happened. Drivers were obliged to alert the operations team about incidents they were aware of. “It happened in a matter of seconds. The person can’t assume that the driver saw what happened,” Walker said.

If people wanted to report a crime they needed to alert security on the train, he said. If there was none then commuters would need to get off at the next station and report to security there.

Leslie van Minnen, Rail Commuters Action Group chairperson, condemned the parastatal for not having enough security guards deployed at stations and on trains.

Incidents like the one in question were avoidable, Van Minnen said.

I WAS travelling home by train from Cape Town to Lakeside after working a little late and had to change trains at Retreat. Immediately after the train pulled out of Retreat station, just before 7pm, I heard a commotion at the end of the carriage and saw some people come running past.

I then saw a guy approaching with a very large knife and immediately joined the crowd running for the door to the next carriage, but we were stopped by another young man wielding a knife, who told us to sit down and hand over our phones. I then noticed there were small groups of guys going through the entire carriage robbing people with knives. This was not a late-night, empty carriage either; there must’ve been about 20 to 30 people on board.

They jumped out at Steenberg station, jumped off the platform on to the tracks and ran towards Retreat. Most of the people on the train poured out, shouting at security to intervene, but they ran off and there didn’t seem to be much effort to stop them.

What shocked me most about this, apart from the fact that something like this could actually happen, is that the train driver in the rear carriage saw all of this happening. And while everyone was still standing in shock on the platform, the driver simply closed the doors and pulled the train out of the station!

What also amazes me is that if this had happened in any other country, it would have been front-page news for a couple of days. But there has been no mention of this in any news publication that I can find. Is this kind of thing so commonplace it doesn’t even make the papers any more? Commuter Kirstenhof