Rail delays continue in Western Cape after vandals hit signalling equipment
Metrorail in the Western Cape continued to operate a reduced morning peak service on Tuesday, instituting additional bus and shuttle services as commuters experienced delays of up to two hours. Vandalism of signal equipment on Saturday has affected the automatic signalling system for Metrorail’s Western Cape network. In a service advisory on Tuesday morning Metrorail warned of delays in excess of one hour on all lines, with passengers experiencing delays of up to four hours during peak afternoon demand on Monday. Metrorail suspended all services on Sunday as it scrambled to fix the network, with reduced train loads required due to a switch to a manual signalling system. The vandalism of a structure holding 500 cables was apparently related to cable theft, with Metrorail saying technical teams from Transnet, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) and Metrorail were working around the clock to fix the issue, but that much of the equipment involved was not just off-the-shelf.
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