Transnet PRASA dispute

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

It is imperative that the Government step in here and sort this pathetic situation out. I had a friend on the Cape Town bound Premier Classe last Thursday. Somewhere I think before Kimberley the E or E's broke down. They had to send Diesels from Kimberley to pull the train causing a five hour delay in arrival at Cape Town on Friday. This is like having SAA run their Aircraft and say Prat & Whitney running the engines. Does not make one bit of logical sense.

[John Ashworth]

A couple of years ago I was on a full Premier Classe from Jo'burg to Cape Town which ended up being ten hours late in Cape Town (I think on that occasion it was due to flooding in the Karoo). Not one single passenger complained, and all basically accepted it as a bonus - 10 more hours of luxury at no extra price! We got an extra meal, an extra night on board, and they opened the bar free that night in compensation. On an ordinary train everybody is just trying to get from A to B, but on luxury trains such as Premier Classe many people are travelling on it just for the experience and are not time-bound. I suppose it's tough on the few who do have a deadline, but the majority probably don't.

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Heard on Cape Talk this evening that all SM TRains will be back to normal by Thursday