The City of Cape Town (CoCT) says it will have business plans in place by the middle of this year to take over the management of passenger rail services in the metro.

This follows the city council’s adoption of the outcomes of a rail feasibility study whose key finding was that Cape Town should be in control of passenger rail to ensure a functional and efficient service in line with its mandate of providing an integrated public transport system.

In a speech to council, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis also announced that the city had received a signed short-term Service Level Plan (SLP) from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), following months of negotiations, with the SLP laying the foundation for the potential future devolution of the rail service to municipal level.

PRASA currently operates the Metrorail service as a national function.

A newly drafted White Paper on National Rail Policy allows for rail to be devolved to capable municipalities.

“Taking charge of Metrorail is especially important for lower- income households, who would save an estimated R932-million a year if trains were working as they should,” said Hill-Lewis.

“We have a vision to massively scale up passenger numbers, new train sets, new routes, and to upgrade stations and the surrounding areas with affordable housing over the next two decades.

“This is why we are glad to announce that PRASA has sent us a signed SLP to improve Metrorail in the short term, which the city will monitor via a joint committee with PRASA.

The SLP lays the foundation for future rail devolution to the benefit of Capetonians and our local economy.

This is a big step towards improving the quality and reliability of the service through a legally binding agreement,” noted Hill-Lewis.

The SLP allows for regular progress reports from PRASA, with the city exercising oversight over yearly performance plan commitments to revitalise stations, introduce more train sets, recommission service lines, and improve the number of daily passengers and train trips.

As part of the SLP, the CoCT commits to providing the municipal services needed to support and enhance passenger rail; encouraging transit-oriented development along rail corridors; and expediting permits within the city’s services and development planning authority roles.

Three Devolution Scenarios
Cape Town started its rail feasibility study in July 2022, with the aim to investigate the impact and implications of devolving passenger rail services to city level.

With this study now completed, business plans will be developed for three ownership models:

• The city owns, operates and maintains the rail network, stations and trains, and absorbs PRASA’s personnel.

The city owns all rail-related assets and concessions the rail network, stations and responsibility for all train operations and maintenance, and the concessionaire absorbs PRASA’s personnel.

• The city procures a large-scale integrated solution through a comprehensive concession.

The potential financial implications were evaluated through a cost:benefit analysis to determine the extent to which the rail system would require financial support.

The estimated cost in nominal terms (which allows for inflation) over a 30-year period amounts to R123-billion.

As such, a subsidy would be required from national government, as well as significant private-sector investment into passenger rail, states the study.

“The business plans will now further investigate the financial, operational and strategic viability of the preferred ownership models,” says CoCT Urban Mobility MMC Rob Quintas.

“These will be comprehensive and detail the funding strategies, financial modelling, and operational management plans.

Once complete, the business plans will give us further clarity on the required capital injections to replace dated assets and expand the rail network.

Expansion is critical as we have to plan ahead for a growing population – be it to increase capacity on the lines where the demand is high, such as the route between Strand and Bellville, or to expand the service to areas where there are currently no trains at all, such as the implementation of the Blue Downs line,” notes Quintas.

SLP Not Devolution Agreement – PRASA
The Cape Town SLP is not a devolution agreement, warns PRASA.

The agency says the agreement flows from Section 11 of the National Land Transportation Act, which entrusts municipalities with the function of preparing transport plans for the area under their control, ensuring compliance to these plans, while also enabling service level planning for passenger rail in consultation with PRASA.

“It is crucial to emphasise that the SLP is designed to enhance cooperation between [Cape Town] and PRASA”, and that it is not an agreement about the devolution of rail services to the city, with these services remaining “the exclusive prerogative of the Department of Transport”.

PRASA says it is set to also sign SLPs with the other metros in the country in which it operates.