Eastern Cape MEC for Transport Thandiswa Marawu officially re-launched the Kei Rail passenger service on Friday, 10 June 2011, at the Amabhele station outside Stutterheim.
A visibly excited Marawu, who prioritised bringing back this service as one of her flagship projects for this financial year, vowed that as the MEC responsible for transport, Kei Rail would not collapse in her hands, adding that a dream has come true and that! Kei Rail is back and back for everyone!
“Today, we are here to witness the re-introduction of this important service, which will help us to improve the mobility and accessibility of our people, especially the rural poor from Mondays to Fridays,” said MEC Marawu.
The MEC further expressed her sincere appreciation to the communities, who were negatively affected, when this service was halted and recommitted her department to ensure that this service never stops again.
The re-introduction of this service is in line with the government’s key priority of rural development and guarantees our people access to a safe, reliable, efficient and affordable public transport system and the department has allocated R67 million in this financial year for this project.
Kei Rail does not use ordinary trains, the trains have:
- a power car
- a luggage car
- a business class coach, seating 48 passengers
- a four-sleeper coach, accommodating 24 passengers
- two six-sleeper coaches, each accommodating 36 passengers
- a catering car, consisting of two serving areas and a fully-equipped kitchen
- five economy class coaches, each seating 64 passengers
A single Kei Rail train is able to transport 464 passengers in comfort between Mthatha and East London and commuters will get this quality service, which costs only R30 per trip.
The department re-iterated that this was not the end of its rail initiatives, as it has a 10 year rail plan which seeks to make rail services viable, especially to rural areas of the province through collaboration with various stakeholders, including local government and the private sector.
In support of this plan, the department has a skills development strategy, which has resulted in the opening of the centre for rail studies at the Walter Sisulu University engineering department in partnership with Dutch Railway Organisation and the University of Delft in the Netherlands.
