By Karabo Rammutla
When the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) announced that their long-distance passenger trains from Johannesburg to Musina would be operating from the beginning of December many travellers were excited.
Trains are affordable and mostly safe, especially for those who have to travel to their home provinces for the Christmas holidays.
With this news in time for the holidays, I decided to experience the revamped Shosholoza Meyl train to Musina.
But my attempt to reach Musina by a Shosholoza Meyl train was futile.
On the day I went to buy a ticket, I was told that a trip with Shosholoza Meyl is not guaranteed.
First when I tried to buy a ticket in a sleeper for 9 December, the cashier discouraged me. She insisted I buy an economy ticket as the train is unreliable and a bus might be used instead, so I gave in and settled for an economy ticket.
I arrived at Bosman Station in Pretoria ready for my trip to the border town of Musina on Friday 9 December at 4pm as the train was expected to leave the station at 5pm.
I found the waiting room at the station packed, with some passengers resorting to sitting on the floor.
Soon after that, a security guard came to tell me to buy a return ticket because there was no guarantee that trains would be operating after Christmas.
She told me that if one has a return ticket, Shosholoza Meyl would make a plan and the passenger would not be stranded.
She said the company had once even hired cars to transport passengers to their destinations.
I went to sit outside and more people joined me. By 5pm there were a lot of us sitting on the stairs of the waiting room.
A lady wearing a Shosholoza Meyl jacket went around apologising. She told us the train was in Elandsfontein and would reach Bosman in an hour.
At 6pm, the train arrived at Bosman but the lady once again came to apologise and told us there had been some mechanical issues and technicians were working on the train.
An hour later, the lady apologised to the passengers again but this time, they were having none of it, and they requested to be transported by bus.
By 7:45pm I decided I couldn’t take it anymore and gave up on my trip to Musina, so I made my way home.
But the masses remain. They have no other choice; there are no refunds. They’re at the mercy of an incompetent company that is very important and that could help reduce road carnage and activate economic activities around train stations in the small towns.
Pictured above: Karabo Rammutla at Bosman train station
Pictured above: Passengers wait outside a waiting room as the waiting room is packed
Picture source: Karabo Rammutla
