It was cautiously optimistic that train services would be restored by Tuesday, Metrorail in the Western Cape said on Monday after vandalism at the weekend resulted in the suspension of all services on Sunday and large delays the next day. Vandalism of a building housing 500 separate cables effectively shut down electronic signalling, requiring manual signalling and a reduction of the number of trains on all routes. The vandalism is apparently linked to cable theft, which Metrorail spokeswoman Riana Scott said was in the order of hundreds of thousands of rand. The cost of the teams working to restore services, the reputational damage to Metrorail, and the economic productivity losses to customers was much higher, she said. Train delays on Monday morning ranged from 12 minutes to 171 minutes. Various services were restored by midday on Monday, but some passengers experienced delays of up to two hours. The United National Transport Union (Untu) has in the past complained about security...
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