PRASA passenger numbers reach 40-million a year, increase by 167% – Emeran
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 its 40 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.
“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, [due] 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,” he says.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest News
Showroom
Rentech provides renewable energy products and services to the local and selected African markets. Supplying inverters, lithium and lead-acid...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
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
