Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) spokesman, Lawrence Venkile, said a power failure late on Wednesday caused railway signaling and over head power lines to be affected, thus resulting in the cancellation of five long distance trips.

The cancellations included trips to East London and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, Durban in KwaZulu Natal, Komatipoort  in Mpumalanga and Musina in Limpopo.

“We put a contingency plan in place and had to transport passengers by bus. Those who have to return from the respective stations would also be transported on those same buses to Johannesburg,” said Venkile.

Power required for the trains to run had been restored by Wednesday evening, but the entire Park Station precinct was still affected.

Reasons for the power outage were still to be provided by power utility Eskom, he said.

“We are working closely with Eskom and are currently running on generators.”

Metrorail Gauteng spokesman, Lillian Mofokeng, said local trains were delayed on Wednesday afternoon during the  peak period.

“All trains were delayed  for an hour to 6:30pm,” she said.

DA shadow transport minister  Ian Ollis said Prasa should have immediately notified the public of the blackout.

“There should have been a public service announcement. People were left stranded  without information,” said Ollis.

 

 

Source: http://www.citizen.co.za