File image: Pylons carry electricity from a sub-station of state power utility Eskom outside Cape Town in this picture taken March 20, 2016.File image: Pylons carry electricity from a sub-station of state power utility Eskom outside Cape Town in this picture taken March 20, 2016.
The Western Cape government says it deplores a situation in which Eskom’s implementation of rolling blackouts on Monday grounded Cape Town’s electric trains. The provincial Transport and Public Works Minister, Daylin Mitchell, says the embattled energy utility’s escalation to on Wednesday morning is expected to lead to the same situation on Tuesday when tens of thousands of train commuters with tickets were left stranded.He says the provincial government has continued to make massive investments in the public transport system.
“I call upon Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and the national Department of Transport to do what is necessary to protect the massive national investment in our commuter rail assets. So that commuters can once again rely on the railways in getting them to work, to school and to amenities on time. It can no longer be that commuters have to pay for the continuous failures of state owned entities,” explains Mitchell.