Address by President Jacob Zuma on the occasion of the official launch of the Metrorail Commercialised Passenger Train, “The Peoples Train”, Pretoria
The Minister of Transport, Mr Joe Maswanganyi,
Ministers Present here today,
Chairman of the PRASA Board and management,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good day to you all.
Today is an important day as we reach another critical milestone in the infrastructure development programme of our country.
We are happy to join you to launch the northern Corridor of the Metro Rail Commercialised Passenger Train, which is fondly called “Peoples Train”.
This project is part of the bigger plan by PRASA to roll out of the train system of the future in order to modernise and improve passenger travel experience in South Africa.
Government is investing a lot of money to improve the way our people travel. We are investing fifty one billion rand on buying new trains and four billion rand on new hybrid locomotives. All in all, the investment programme towards the modernisation of passenger rail infrastructure and services totals one hundred and seventy three billion rand (R173 billion).
The programme focuses on station and depot modernisation, upgrading of signalling and overhead lines, railway tracks and platform correction.
It is a worthwhile investment on infrastructure that will improve the lives of our people and which will also last for many decades.
The handing over of this world class train today, the Peoples Train, indicates that the days of having an uncomfortable, unreliable, and unsafe rail service must become a thing of the past.
The investment in this modernisation programme by government will ensure that we change the rail landscape of our country.
The new trains have some key features designed for both safety and passenger comfort.
This launch is part of the programme of government of building and renewing infrastructure. We made a commitment as government to maintain road infrastructure, upgrade rail infrastructure and services and also to build a reliable public transportation service.
This is aimed at improving the quality of life of our people by developing accessible, safe and modern public transport in the country.
We already have a large network of infrastructure to build on. Government, through PRASA owns 2 280 kilometres of South Africa’s rail network and uses 22 000 kilometres of rail track under the control of Transnet.
PRASA has 585 train stations and a total fleet of 4 735 coaches, with an overall staff complement of 18 207.
With the implementation of the Moloto Development Corridor, we are to see the expansion of the South African rail network together with the addition of the train stations network.
This infrastructure, especially the passenger rail services, will be transformed and modernised over the next 20 years.
This is the beginning of the revival of passenger rail after 40 years of under investment. This under-investment into passenger rail has resulted in old and unreliable trains and rail infrastructure.
PRASA cannot launch new trains on the old infrastructure as it is over 40 years old because the infrastructure will be unable to support the new train and its technology. That is why we are investing in a complete overhaul of the rail infrastructure in South Africa.
The programme is going well.
PRASA has refurbished 291 Metrorail and two hundred and ninety eight (298) ShosholozaMeyl coaches.
In addition, 27 stations have been upgraded nationally.
These most challenging rail engineering projects firmly position South Africa as the manufacturing hub of rolling stock in the African Continent.
We are truly proud of our overall infrastructure development programme as government.
It moves beyond trains to include the building of schools, refurbishing of hospitals, building of three new universities and more than 10 training and vocational education colleges.
Let me make an appeal to all our people. Let us be partners in ensuring the success of the government infrastructure development programme.
As we hand over such infrastructure, we appeal to our people to handle it with care. These are your trains. Look after them so that they can carry you for many years to come.
The acts of vandalism and serious crimes such as the burning of trains are totally unacceptable. We should report people to the police, all those who burn trains, steal cables or do anything else that undermines efforts of improving the quality of life of all.
We have experienced shocking incidents in this country where people burn trains because they arrived late at the station and made them late for work. That is too drastic and is totally unacceptable.
Commuters and our passenger rail teams should engage and discuss customer care issues such as arrival and departure times.
Clear and open channels of communication must be strengthened so that we do not have to go through horrible incidents such as the burning of trains and other critical infrastructure.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to officially launch the People’s Train today! Enjoy the ride, and handle it with care!
I thank you.
