Commuters were stranded when the Western Cape’s entire passenger train service was brought to a halt mid-afternoon on Thursday after Eskom cut power to Prasa, citing non-payment of accounts.
Image: Dave Chambers
Prasa on Thursday paid R6.5m to Eskom, apparently ending a “devastating” disruption in the power supply to the passenger rail agency that left thousands of commuters in the Western Cape stranded.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha told TimesLIVE that the payment was received and the Passenger Rail Association of SA’s (Prasa’s) account was now “current”. He said power had been restored.
From about midday on Thursday, no trains were operating in the Western Cape after Eskom cut power to Prasa, citing non-payment of bills.
Commuters were stranded on trains which had to limp back to stations on emergency power and passengers were denied entry to train stations.
Prasa initially said that the trains would not run again on Thursday, but by around 6pm some were back in operation.
About 590,000 commuters use trains each weekday to get to work and back.
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