Cape Town eyes alternatives to Metrorail

A monorail, light rail and even urban cable cars might be on the cards for the Mother City.

These modes of transport are all part of an ambitious plan by the Cape Town city council, which includes taking over the running of rail infrastructure in the city.

Brett Herron, mayoral committee member for transport and urban development, said on Tuesday that commuter rail services in Cape Town were on the brink of collapse, and that the city council couldn't wait for national government to hand them over by around 2030, as suggested in a white paper.

Part of the city's planned takeover might lead to the introduction of the "alternative rail" solutions, he said, supporting a claim last month by Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD that Cape Town was a "hot prospect" to get its Skyrail monorail system.

The city announced late last year that BYD was setting up an electric bus manufacturing plant in the city. It would also build mass-transit monorail systems and solar panels.

The city intends taking over railway lines, stations, ticketing centres and signalling and invites companies like Metrorail to bid for the right to run trains on different routes.

Herron said their system would operate similarly to the MyCiTi bus rapid transit.

"I want to be frank about the reality that it will take us years to repair the damage done to passenger rail over the past three decades. Setbacks should be expected," he added.

The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it shared Herron's concern that the city's rail system was close to collapse.

Bheki Hadebe, the ANC's transport spokesman in council, said changing ownership without fixing the problems would not do the city any good.

The University of Cape Town's associate professor in transport studies, Marianne Vanderschuren, said the Metrorail system suffered from ageing infrastructure and rolling stock coupled with violence, all of which jeopardised services to commuters.