Stationary trains in Nyanga Station today. Photo: Bernard Chiguvare
25 April 2016
In the first of a series of short reports, Bernard Chiguvare describes his daily battle to get to work using Metrorail.
Today I was aiming to get the 07:15 am train from Nyanga Junction to Cape Town. It is an express train, which is supposed to stop at very few stations on its way to Cape Town.
I was at the station by 07:00. Metro rail ticket checkers were present at the entrance but did not check tickets.
At platforms 3, 5 and 6 there were stationary trains. From the time I arrived until 07:26 there was no announcement as to why the trains were not operating normally.
Was this going to be a blue Monday? Why were these ticket checkers not doing their work? I joined hundreds of metro rail passengers who were now restless.
At 07:26 I jumped into a fully packed train that was going to Cape Town via Pinelands.
I arrived at Salt River at 07:58 then rushed to platform 2 to catch the Rondebosch train. It was running 13 minutes late.
I got to work at 8:30. Not too bad a trip, all things considered.