The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has estimated the cost of flood damages to the country’s rail infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal at between R2.6 billion and R2.9 billion.
“A multidisciplinary Disaster Management Response Team, comprising various divisional heads, senior managers, and Prasa’s engineering team, was set up to assess the extent of the damage to the rail network and develop a recovery plan,” Prasa said in a statement this week.
This was after recent floods affected parts of the province, wreaking havoc and causing extensive damage to the rail infrastructure, leading to the suspension of train services.
Metrorail in the province has experienced substantial damage to its facilities, rail infrastructure and rolling stock.
“Under difficult circumstances, the team concluded its initial investigations. According to the collated data and photographic evidence of inaccessible areas, the direct cost of the recovery in the region is estimated to be between R2.6 billion and R2.9 billion,” Prasa said.
The preliminary investigation identified about nine sections that had been severely affected.
Restoring services will require rehabilitation and replacement of perway (tracks); repair of electrical infrastructure and substations damaged by the floods; replacement of signalling equipment; replacement of damaged fibre cables and Uninterruped Power Supply (UPS) equipment; repair of the drainage system and Illovo Bridge.
However, Prasa said that some areas were still inaccessible and a geotechnical and detailed design assessment and costing still needed to be conducted once water levels had decreased and weather permitted.
“As part of the team's recovery efforts, it has divided the work into two phases: Phase 1 concerns work that needs to be performed to ensure trains are able to travel safely through the flood-affected sections, while Phase 2 focuses on the overall rehabilitation of the infrastructure.
“Additionally, the loss of fare revenue due to the suspension of train services is estimated at R50 million. This highlights the importance of the teams working quickly to restore services,” Prasa said.
The response team last week removed mud, rubble, debris, water, and sewage from 14 affected stations in the region as part of the clean-up campaign.
“As a consequence of the damage, commuters who rely on affordable rail transport are inconvenienced greatly, and the suspension of train services is a blow to people trying to rebuild their lives.
“Ultimately, the safety of commuters is our top priority, and services can only be resumed once all repairs have been completed and trains can run again.
“In KwaZulu-Natal, the safety of Prasa employees remains paramount, and all work will be conducted within the confines of occupational health and safety regulations,” Prasa said. – SAnews.gov.za
