Load shedding won't affect Metrorail

Cape Town - Metrorail has said it remains unaffected by Eskom power outages at all its regional operations.

This is because rail services are part of priority electricity users which are critical to the country, and therefore cannot be part of the planned outages.

Speaking at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) head offices in Gauteng, CEO Mosenngwa Mofi confirmed Metrorail's status as a priority service.

"Metrorail runs approximately 2 400 trains transporting 2.6 million people nationally on a daily basis. To interrupt such a service could have massive consequences in the movement of our people who play a critical role in the economy," said Mofi.

Prasa and Eskom have a partnership agreement that Eskom would communicate any unavoidable power outages prior to implementation, so that rail passengers could be informed.

However, although Prasa Rail also has load shedding exclusions on any outages, it can be affected if Eskom experiences technical challenges which are not part of any load shedding.

Prasa encourages rail users to support Eskom's drive to reduce electricity usage, said Mofi.