Metrorail is an operator of

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

services in the major

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

s of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. It is a division of the

Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) is a South African state-owned enterprise responsible for most passenger rail services in the country. History In 1910, as a consequence of the formation of the Union of South Africa, all railway ...

(PRASA), a

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

which is responsible for most passenger rail services in South Africa. The Metrorail system consists of 471 stations, of track, and carries an average of 1.7 million passengers per weekday. Metrorail was formed in 1996 as a business unit of Transnet and was transferred to the South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC), the predecessor of PRASA. In the early-1990s Metrorail was placed under

Spoornet Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

, another business unit of Transnet but on 1 January 1997, Metrorail became an independent business within Transnet and the Metrorail regions were formed. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

Metrorail was transferred back into the SARCC; in 2008 the SARCC became PRASA.

Regions

Because Metrorail operates services in several separate cities, for operational purposes it is subdivided into four regions. ;Gauteng region Previously there were two regions: Witwatersrand in the south and Tshwane in the north. The southern area covers the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area (also known as the

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...

). Trains run from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

and

Germiston Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a small city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions a ...

outwards to Springs,

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a ...

and Randfontein via Krugersdorp. The northern part covers

and surrounding suburbs. Trains run from

station outwards to the various suburbs of the city, as well as southwards to

via Kempton Park and

stations (in the Witwatersrand region). ;Durban region This region covers

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

and the surrounding suburbs and towns. Trains run from

station outwards as far as

Stanger KwaDukuza is a municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In 2006, the municipal name was changed to KwaDukuza (which incorporates small towns such as Stanger, Balito, Shaka's Kraal, but the Zulu people in the area called it "Dukuza" well before ...

on the north coast, Kelso on the south coast, and Cato Ridge inland. ;Eastern Cape region This region operates two separate lines in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

: one running from

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, and one from

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, So ...

Uitenhage Uitenhage ( ; ), officially renamed Kariega, is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. Along with the city of Port E ...

. Plans are in the pipeline to connect the service to

Coega The Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ), established in 1999 and 11,500 ha in extent, is situated near Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The initiative is a multibillion-dollar industrial development comple ...

. ;Western Cape region This region covers the

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

metropolitan area and surrounding towns. Trains run from Cape Town railway station southwards to

Simon's Town Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern s ...

, southeastwards to Mitchell's Plain and

Khayelitsha Khayelitsha () is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to be the largest

, and eastwards through Bellville to Strand, Stellenbosch and

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

; occasional services run to

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

and

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

Track and equipment

Metrorail trains, as with the rest of the South African rail network, run on track. Some routes run on track owned and operated by PRASA; other routes run on track operated by Transnet and also used for long-distance and freight trains. Most Metrorail services are operated by

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

train sets of the domestically built 5M2A type and the Japanese-built 8M type. Since 1999, the 5M2A trains are being refurbished. Everything above the underframe is completely removed, and replaced by new, prefabricated wall and roof modules. In 2007 alone more than 300 coaches were refurbished. The new trains are designated 10M3 (Cape Town), 10M4 (Gauteng) or 10M5 (Durban). The Metrorail services on the Eastern Cape are operated by four diesel trains, each consisting of ten coaches and a diesel locomotive. 280 train sets operate on the system, each able to carry up to 1,800 passengers. In October 2013, Gibela was awarded a contract to build 600

X'Trapolis Mega The X'Trapolis Mega is an electric multiple unit, part of the X'Trapolis family, built by Gibela (a joint venture between French company Alstom and South African interests) for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) that operates in Me ...

EMU trainsets (3,600 cars), the first half of a multi-phase rolling stock renewal program that would see up to 1,200 new trainsets delivered by the 2030s.

Safety concerns

In recent years, much concern has been raised about the safety of passengers on Metrorail trains, both due to crime and accidents. Serious incidents include murders and assaults on-board trains; several

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

accidents, and a crash in

. An organisation called the Rail Commuters Action Group instituted a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

against Metrorail and the government to force them to invest more money in security. The case reached the Constitutional Court, which declared that Metrorail has "an obligation to ensure that reasonable measures are taken to provide for the security of rail commuters". Despite this, safety on the trains remains a dire concern. Metrorail services have also suffered from instances of arson of train-sets which occurred during passenger protests but not necessarily by disgruntled passengers, in some cases forcing the closure of lines; as well as incidents of cable theft disrupting services.IOL: Scorpions bust alleged cable theft syndicate
/ref> In 2006 the Faure level crossing accident killed 19 people.

References

External links

SARCC website

Metrorail website

Metrorail Cape Town website

Transnet website

Spoornet website

South African Trains - A Pictorial Encyclopaedia
{{Metrorail (South Africa) navbox Transport operators of South Africa Passenger rail transport in South Africa

Regions

Track and equipment

Safety concerns

See also

References

External links