Rail commuters will have to wait a little longer to take their traditional mode of transportation after Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced Metrorail will not resume its service.
He said this would stand until the government was satisfied the risk of transmission was manageable on a corridor-by-corridor basis.
Mbalula added rail services would resume gradually on an incremental basis, saying this would be based on detailed plans submitted by passenger rail operators.
"Limited services with strict measures to ensure social distancing and other mitigation measures will be introduced."
Long distance trains are still prohibited in Level 4
He said the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) would adopt a gradual re-introduction of its services based on its capacity to manage crowds and implement effective social distancing as well as implementing other mitigation measures that included the cleaning and disinfection of surfaces, trains and stations.
"Prasa will undertake the compulsory testing of the rolling stock during the level 4 period and will only resume with a limited service once the National Command Council declares the risk adjustment to level 3, with the return of the Pienaarspoort line in Tshwane and southern line in Cape Town. Long-distance trains are still prohibited in level 4," Mbalula added.
He said the biggest challenged faced by the department would be managing Prasa.
"We have said use this period because we have opened up to get essential workers to do the work, fixing, doing the construction work that we need to do. Before the coronavirus, we were dealing with big corridors.
"We can't just go 'Boom, open up Prasa'. We have said they must run testing to ensure when we go back, there is no question [on safety]."
Mbalula added the department would deal with train management at level 4 to resume operations by wrapping up testing to ensure it was ready for consumers.
Gautrain service to cover eight stations
He said the Gautrain would gradually resume services and an appropriate load factor would be applied based on seating and standing arrangements.
Mbalula added he expected the Gautrain to resume services on Monday, saying testing would be done over the weekend to ensure the rail service was ready for commuters.
This will also entail a 50% standard coach occupancy.
"Gautrain will mark out areas of the station to demarcate where to stand and queue appropriately based on one passenger per square metre.
"The Gautrain seating arrangement will consist of alternate seats to allow regulated spacing and control based on average one passenger per square metre."
The Gautrain would operate from 05:00 until 12:00 and from 15:00 until 20:00, Mbalula said.
Maintenance staff will be permitted to move in and around the system during curfew hours, with maintenance vehicles permitted from 22:00 until 04:00.
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