The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) is “making steady and significant progress in getting passenger trains back on track”, with the urban rail service carrying about 40-million passengers in 2023/24 on 31 of the 40 PRASA rail corridors now operational, says CEO Hishaam Emeran.

Emeran says passenger numbers have climbed by almost 25-million from a year ago.

Commuters are now also accessing PRASA’s services at 263 refurbished stations, with more stations set for a makeover in the current financial year.

Emeran says PRASA has recovered almost 80% of passenger rail corridors after widespread theft and vandalism destroyed the country’s passenger rail system during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“The resuscitation of the 31 corridors translates into the steady return of rail passengers.

“We are not where we need to be yet, but we are seeing significant progress.

“A year back we had 15-million passengers and by the end of March this year, we reached 40-million passengers. That’s [a 167%] increase.”

PRASA has invested more than R12-billion in capital projects, creating about 4 500 jobs, adds Emeran.

“Over the past 24 months, PRASA has achieved some major milestones and we can see a significant improvement; you can see a turnaround within the rail space in South Africa.”

“That has been possible, in large part, to PRASA’s ability to execute on its capital programme,” says Emeran.

Emeran is not only the PRASA CEO, but has also been elected as the president of the Southern African Railways Association (SARA).

In this role, Emeran says rail has a critical role to play on the African continent.

“We must harness rail’s potential on the continent and in the Southern African Development Community by embarking on ambitious programmes that will expand the role of both passenger and freight rail.

“These systems have the potential to contribute to our continent’s socioeconomic prosperity.

“Fixing and upgrading rail is an important goal within SARA, given the burden that Africa’s roads carry.

“There is excellent work being done in the logistics space, driven in South Africa by the Presidency,” notes Emeran.

“Our transport networks must receive this level of priority because the economic and social costs of a failing rail system, and that of the congested roads we see across the continent, far outweigh the costs of improving and modernising our railway network.

“Also given the high levels of unemployment across much of the continent, affordable, safe and reliable public transport, with rail as the backbone, is critical.”