Great balls of fire: Rail agency in death spiral

[John Ashworth]

Great balls of fire: Rail agency in death spiral

The arson that destroyed 18 train carriages at Cape Town Station comes as no surprise to passengers, employees and other stakeholders in the passenger rail industry. Insiders who spoke to Daily Maverick say it is a natural consequence of the incompetence of the bad decisions made by the organisation’s leadership recently...

[John Ashworth]

Prasa puts up R100 000 reward for information on Cape train arsonists

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has appealed to the public to help confirm the identity of the four suspects captured on security cameras in the “act” of train arson at Cape Town Station in the early hours of Thursday.

Prasa has put up a reward of R100 000 for information that would secure their conviction. Prasa group chief executive Nkosinathi Sishi said setting fire to railway infrastructure was inexcusable and sabotage.

“Every incident further reduces Metrorail’s ability to offer its users a reliable, safe and convenient service. The harder we work to modernise the rail services, the more these incidents undermine train users and public confidence in the Western Cape train service”...