Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City will engage national government on the handover of passenger rail services following Council’s adoption today of a detailed Rail Business Plan. Council further adopted the Cape Town Long-Term Plan, which sets out the City’s overall strategic goals until 2050, including that 75% of passenger trips are made with public transport, with rail as the backbone of an integrated system under City control.

The City regards passenger rail takeover as essential to improving integrated public transport across the metro, one of several key means to achieving its broader Long Term Plan target of 110% GDP growth by 2050.

The Rail Business Plan explored nine devolution scenarios, identifying the three most viable options. All viable options involve the devolution of rail services, associated assets and infrastructure to the City with the participation of the private sector operating services on a contractual or comprehensive concession basis.

The Business Plan also rules out less viable devolution scenarios where infrastructure remains owned and managed by Prasa, and where the City operates the rail service rather than the private sector.

Crucially, the plan concludes that devolution is only possible with funding from the national fiscus, with no room within the rates base of the City to cross subsidise rail. The City also needs to have authority over fare-setting, access to long-term National grant-funding, and to generate local revenue through public-private partnerships and commercialisation. This is in line with the City’s constitutional mandate for integrated transport planning across different public transport modes.

‘Today is an historic milestone as Council adopts both a Business Plan for passenger rail takeover in the short-term, as well as our City’s overall long-term plan until 2050, which sets out our strategic goals over the next 25 years.

‘In the Cape Town of 2050, we’ll mostly use affordable public transport to get around, our streets will be much safer due to smart policing, we’ll source a healthy portion of our water and electricity from alternate sources for greater security, and our natural environment will be protected and restored for future generations.

‘Capetonians urgently need an expanded, affordable, and reliable rail service that is integrated with other forms of transport via one ticketing system. The Rail Business Plan will now inform our engagements with national government to devolve passenger rail to the City. This is one of the critical first steps in the long-term vision to massively scale up passenger numbers, new train sets, new routes, upgrade stations, and develop surrounding precincts with affordable housing over the next two decades,’ said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

‘The National White Paper on Rail and the Constitution both recognise that local government is best positioned to deliver integrated, affordable, and accountable public transport through coordinated planning across transport modes.

‘To ensure a viable devolution handover, it is necessary for Prasa and national government to restore the rail network and operations to 2012 levels of 620 000 daily passenger trips, which existed prior to the steady collapse of rail over the last decade. The City would then work to further expand the rail service. In most scenarios, this includes a new Blue Downs rail link and potentially further expansion dependent on the national fiscus,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.

The City’s Rail Business Plan follows the inception phase of the Rail Feasibility Study, followed by a Baseline Analysis (October 2023) that assessed the current state of rail operations and infrastructure in Cape Town. This was succeeded by the development of the Alternative Institutional Options Report (October 2024), which identified and evaluated viable network and governance models. Following Council’s approval of the preferred institutional options in December 2024, the Business Plan Phase commenced in January 2025.

The Business Plan was developed using in-depth research into the state of the local rail system as well as stakeholder engagement to provide a credible basis for negotiations with national government and further long-term planning.

Cape Town’s Vision 2050

Cape Town’s Vision 2050 is based on the twin goals of creating a city of opportunities for all, and a metro that is future-fit for the challenges of the next 25 years.

The Long-Term plan adopted by Council today captures various City initiatives in support of these aims. Highlights include:

• Raised infrastructure investment and Ease-of-Doing-Business targets, aiming for a 120% increase to GDP by 2050
• Smart policing that is data and tech-driven for a safer Cape Town
• Reinstating passenger rail as the backbone of an expanded transport network under the City’s management
• Residents use public transport for 75% of all trips by 2050, and no Capetonian spends more than 10% of their disposable income on transport
• Improved use of digital technology and artificial intelligence for better governance and communication with residents
• Meeting 35% of electricity demand with alternative energy sources by 2030 and grid upgrades for a decentralised, energy-trading future
• Targeting 25% of Cape Town’s water from alternative non-surface water sources by 2040
• Increase new housing opportunities to 50 000 per year via land release, private sector-led development, upgrades to informal settlements, and support for micro-developers to build safe and compliant affordable rental housing
• Major sanitation investments including wastewater treatment works to protect inland and coastal ecosystems
• Diverting 70% of waste from landfill by 2050, with improved waste collection, landfill, recycling and waste minimisation
• Bio-diversity protections and upping annual tree-planting rates to plant 100 000 trees by 2050 to combat climate change in line with the City’s Urban Forest Policy
• Disaster risk capacity to deal with climate challenges, from fires to drought and floods.