[imagesource:wikicommons]

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) seems to finally be making headway in connecting the popular destination of Simon’s Town to the southern line.

Earlier this month PRASA ran its first blue train, or Electric Multiple Unit (EMU), beyond the Fish Hoek station, which has been the end of the line for passengers travelling to Simon’s Town for too long now.

PRASA spokesperson Zinobulali Mihi said engineering assessments had been done on the 6km stretch of line between Fish Hoek and Simon’s Town with the first trial run on June 2.

The line from Fish Hoek to Simon’s Town had some of the sharpest curves in the province and has been dogged for years by sand blowing onto the tracks.

Civic organisations have long questioned why the blue train couldn’t go to the “end of the line” as Ceres Rail’s vintage passenger train, propelled by a steam locomotive, came to Simon’s Town in March already for the first time in six years.

The Simon’s Town Business Association (STBA) and the Simon’s Town Museum, argued that regular train services would not only boost businesses and tourism but would enable children from poor neighbourhoods up the line to visit the historic town for educational excursions.

“We feel that the blue train coming, consistently, to Simon’s Town will be well utilised by both tourists and residents.”

Upgrading Simon’s Town station would be a boom for tourists visiting Boulders Beach and Cape Point Nature Reserve, two of the peninsula’s best attractions. The South African Naval Museum also said visitor numbers were down because of the unreliable train service to Simon’s Town.

Simon’s Town station was so neglected that volunteers had to clean the station and fix dangerous electrical cables before the arrival of the steam train in March.

“A large number of weekend visitors used to take the train from Muizenberg to visit Simon’s Town, which also included our naval museum. The only way to get into Simon’s Town during the annual Cape Cycle Tour, when roads are closed, used to be on the train.”

“The re-appearance of the historic steam train to Simon’s Town has already shown a welcome increase in visitors.”

Train services between Fish Hoek and Simon’s Town have run intermittently due to sand on the tracks, but a “sand management pilot project” has now been completed to address the issue.

Mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment Eddie Andrews said the pilot project, from November last year to April this year, was meant to show PRASA how to prevent wind-blown sand from accumulating on the railway line. It had been “very successful”, and PRASA had agreed it was effective, but no further agreement between the rail agency and the City had followed, he said.

I’m going to put my ignorance of railways and coastal management on full display here and ask why keeping sand off a 6-kilometre track is such an impossible task. Build a wall or employ and train a team to keep the tracks clear – maybe offer some of the 6,630 homeless people in Cape Town free accommodation and a job to maintain the track and keep the station clean. But alas, it’s likely not this simple.

Maintaining the Simon’s Town station and ensuring the blue trains efficiently run from the CBD to the tourism hotspot seems a no-brainer, so hopefully PRASA can pull some finger and keep the line open.

[source:falsbayecho]