Metrorail has been struggling with cable theft and delays. Photo by Masixole Feni.
20 November 2014
While Metrorail guards demand train tickets, a poor service leaves many commuters to face the consequences of being late.
On Tuesday, we were on the 4:01pm train at Rondebosch. The slow moving train reached Salt River on time, and we caught a train to the Northern Suburbs at 4:15pm. But instead of 20 minutes, it took us an hour and 45 minutes to get to Parow train station.
A disgruntled commuter told GroundUp that at Parow station trains were expected at 3pm, 3:30pm and 3:36pm. None of the three trains arrived after waiting for any hour. He asked for a refund at the ticket office and they refused. He lost R7,50. He took a taxi to work.
“It is not the first time Metrorail staff at Parow station refused to refund me,” he said. “I am always losing money because several times the trains perform badly. On 31October, they refused to refund me again when a train did not come. I had been at the station since 6:30am and the train only arrived at 8:10.”
“To make matters worse, while I am frustrated with train performance, there is also Parow station ticket office staff to deal with. They are not professional or apologetic. I do not think they went through customer care training when they were recruited. They do not wear name badges. Laying a complaint is challenging in this case. They forget they are paid from the money commuters pay or else they would be out of jobs.”
Another commuter who takes the Parow to Rondebosch route said she is fed up with Metrorail and wishes she could afford a car. She is unhappy that Metrorail is not held accountable for lost business and jobs due to the train delays.
She said, “Very few bosses will acknowledge that trains can be two hours late as we experienced on the Northern commuters route during the morning peak hours on 31 October and yesterday [18 November] on the Northern route. Again I boarded a train at 4:15pm, which was supposed to reach Parow within 20 minutes. I arrived at Parow station at 5:45pm, one hour 45 minutes delayed.”
“The trains just stop in the middle of the rail lines away from platforms. When the train stopped again between Woltemade and Old Mutual train station, I decided to take a risk and jumped off, crossed the undesignated rail crossing, and boarded the other train which appeared as if it was moving well. That train moved, but then stopped at Thornton train station.”
“I was supposed to pick up my child from Parow Preparatory school by 5:30pm. I was two hours late. The aftercare rule is, if a parent is late, she should pay R5 per minute. Thanks to Metrorail I am faced with a R600 bill to be paid by month end. This is only for yesterday. What about all other days these trains are not operating properly? If aftercare school receipts are produced is Metrorail going to pay? It’s not just me. Other commuters also lose their valuables to theft or get injured, because after these delays when a train finally comes it is overloaded.”
Another commuter told GroundUp that last week he signed a final warning for not being punctual at work. He said now he would probably face signing a dismissal form.
GroundUp contacted Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott. Asked about Metrorail staff who do not wear name badges, she said that should employees not display their name tags, customers must give a description of the staff member and where they were to enable management to check the deployment rosters.
She said, “On October 31, the theft of four meters of cable on the approach to Cape Town Station caused major delays. Some trains were delayed for an hour or more. The 73 core cable regulates all automated signaling to Cape Town Station’s 24 platforms. The incident happened at 3am in the morning. Technicians rushed to Woodstock and Bay Junction (Culemborg) scene and were able to restore functionality at 6:45am.”
“During repairs, all trains had to be manually and individually authorized to depart and arrive at Cape Town Station. 150 trains use Cape Town Station during the morning peak between 5:30am and 9am, and it takes about two hours to normalize the peak hour train schedule.”
She said that Metrorail is not liable to commuters for any loss arising from any failure or delay in performance or service delivery resulting from circumstances beyond its control, including delay or cancellation of any service for whatever reason.
“Yesterday trains operating on the northern lines were delayed by defective communication cables at 3:45pm outside Elsies River. Technicians managed to restore functionality at 4:49pm, and trains were able to move again,” she said.