Rail infrastructure vandalism causes safety risk, train delays in Cape Town
Vandalism to fibre optic cables in Cape Town has resulted in delays across several main railway corridors.
Commuters have been advised to use alternative transport as the vandalism has resulted in a telecommunications outage that poses a safety risk to train services.
"The Western Cape passenger rail service is currently being disrupted by a telecommunications outage. The cause of the outage is a vandalised optic fibre cable on the Diep River line. The cut optic fibre has absolutely no copper inside. However, it keeps being vandalised," said acting Metrorail spokesperson Nana Zenani.
The telecommunications outage means trains in various corridors across the region cannot be automatically controlled at the Train Control Centre.
"When the automated panel goes off, the team cannot automatically see where the trains are to effectively and safely move them. The safety protocol when this happens is to manually authorise each train movement for safety. This creates additional travel time, which would otherwise be managed automatically by trail control," said Zenani.
Commuters have been advised to use alternative transport until the fibre has been repaired by technicians. Zenani did not give an expected timeline for the completion of repairs.
Last week, vandalism to railway infrastructure on the northern line in Cape Town caused the cancellation of several trains. The vandalism stripped the area of essential safety equipment.
Comments
The
functionality
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation