South Africa launches new Prasa buses and opens Kopanong station — TimesLIVE

In South Africa, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy presented a new fleet of City to City intercity buses, opened the refurbished Kopanong railway station in Mabopane and inspected the network in Gauteng province. According to TimesLIVE, the event in Pretoria took place as part of the recovery programme of South Africa’s Passenger Rail Agency, Prasa.

Digital traffic control

Creecy visited the centralised control centre, which monitors the entire railway network in northern Gauteng. Prasa replaced the old tracking system with a fully digital one. Previously, Gauteng had 33 separate control centres, but after the signalling infrastructure was upgraded, they were consolidated into a single Gauteng North centre.

According to the minister, the new system is intended to prevent collisions between trains travelling in the same or opposite directions. If a problem occurs on one of the tracks, it also makes it possible to organise traffic in both directions on another track.

Buses and station

The new City to City buses will serve long-distance routes linking Gauteng with the Eastern Cape and Limpopo. They are equipped with adjustable seats, toilets, Wi-Fi, charging ports, air conditioning, fuel-efficient engines and additional safety systems.

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At Kopanong station, Creecy bought a ticket to Pretoria for 7 rand and travelled by commuter train to the city centre. She stressed that the affordable fare is important for households, as reliable rail transport enables passengers to get to work, educational and medical institutions.

Investment in the network

Over the past three years, the transport department has invested 50 billion rand in restoring the Prasa network in Gauteng, including infrastructure repairs and new rolling stock. In Tshwane, Prasa invested 800 million rand in overhead electrical equipment, substations, signalling and telecommunications. According to Creecy, these investments created more than 80,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Prasa is also building 3.5-metre-high protective walls along railway corridors to limit unauthorised access, theft and vandalism. On the Mabopane line, where around three trains per hour currently operate, the company plans within a year to increase the frequency to nearly six trains per hour — approximately every 10 minutes.