Johannesburg - The CEO of Prasa rail operations, Mosenngwa Mofi, says a new five-point efficiency plan has been designed to address key issues of overcrowding, slow journey times and variable timetables.
He said Metrorail provided a critical service to over two-million commuters every day and about 2 200 train trips were undertaken daily.
The rail service continued to be the most affordable mode of transport providing mobility to many South Africans who would otherwise be forced to spend a large portion of their disposable income on transport.
Over the years the Metrorail service had experienced serious challenges that impacted on the reliability of the commuter rail service.
Mofi said at the heart of this new plan was the total redesign of the service to respond to new challenges of slow journey times and overcrowding.
Among the issues to receive attention were:
* Service re-design to improve journey times and manage overcrowding;
* Introduce user-friendly time tables;
* Acceleration of infrastructure improvements (an amount of R385m has been allocated this year to implement immediate improvements);
* Security of passengers and assets (an amount of R130m has been allocated as part of the asset protection programme) and
* Operational safety.
The new rolling stock fleet renewal programme was at the heart of the passenger rail renewal programme and Prasa recently announced the appointment of the preferred bidder to manufacture new trains at a cost of R54bn over the next 10 years.
Mofi said signals, communications, stations, rail networks, depots, and coaches would be upgraded.
He said Metrorail provided a critical service to over two-million commuters every day and about 2 200 train trips were undertaken daily.
The rail service continued to be the most affordable mode of transport providing mobility to many South Africans who would otherwise be forced to spend a large portion of their disposable income on transport.
Over the years the Metrorail service had experienced serious challenges that impacted on the reliability of the commuter rail service.
Mofi said at the heart of this new plan was the total redesign of the service to respond to new challenges of slow journey times and overcrowding.
Among the issues to receive attention were:
* Service re-design to improve journey times and manage overcrowding;
* Introduce user-friendly time tables;
* Acceleration of infrastructure improvements (an amount of R385m has been allocated this year to implement immediate improvements);
* Security of passengers and assets (an amount of R130m has been allocated as part of the asset protection programme) and
* Operational safety.
The new rolling stock fleet renewal programme was at the heart of the passenger rail renewal programme and Prasa recently announced the appointment of the preferred bidder to manufacture new trains at a cost of R54bn over the next 10 years.
Mofi said signals, communications, stations, rail networks, depots, and coaches would be upgraded.