PRASA undertaking recovery programme

Passenger rail operator the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has changed its approach to build from the ground up and is implementing a five-point plan as part of its recovery efforts, Gauteng regional operations manager Abram Siliki Nkgabutle has outlined.

Speaking on the second day of the South African Transport Conference, held this week at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research campus, in Pretoria, he explained that PRASA’s previous model was based on revenue generation.

Now, however, it has shifted its approach to build upwards from the base.

This will begin with the base of security and asset protection.

Once this is done, the focus will shift to rehabilitating the network.

Thereafter, PRASA expects it will be able to operate seamlessly, which will then generate revenue, he noted.

Therefore, the five-point plan starts by focusing on securing the network, which he said was critical to the entity.

Secondly, it is focused on rehabilitation of the priority corridors.

“We have to sustain the current service and then, where it matters the most, recover the priority corridors and also deal with the element of modernisation,” he emphasised.

Thirdly, it is focused on reliability, which entails proper scheduling and getting trains to run on time.

Fourthly, PRASA is focused on affordability for its customers and, lastly, on ensuring sustained safety and security for staff and passengers.