City of Cape Town is a step closer to operating train services

Trains at the Paarden Eiland Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa depot in Cape Town. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks

The City of Cape Town has approved a Rail Business Plan for devolving operation of the city’s Metrorail services from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) to the municipality.

The City will now submit a memorandum to the National Department of Transport (NDoT) requesting that rail services be devolved.

According to mayco member for urban mobility Rob Quintas, devolution will only be possible with funding from National Treasury, which he says must take the form of a multi-year funding agreement.

The City’s long-term mobility plan envisages devolution being completed by 2028, but Quintas says the timeline “will ultimately be determined by the national government” and is outside the City’s control.

The plan also proposes development of a rail link to Blue Downs, with the possibility of further expansion.

In 2023, the City threatened PRASA with an intergovernmental dispute after failed attempts to establish a working committee on rail devolution. In October 2024, the City said the process had been delayed several times by the national government. A Service Level Plan between PRASA and the City was then signed in February 2025.

Calls for devolution follow many years of deteriorating passenger rail services, culminating in a near-total collapse in 2021.

Earlier this year, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy said the recovery of the Central Line — Cape Town’s “most important rail corridor” — had cost about R1.3-billion.

Quintas said devolving Metrorail would benefit “lower-income households who travel long distances from their homes, work and school”.

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