A train at the Glencairn station was severely damaged after it caught fire on Monday October 7.
Metrorail spokeswoman, Riana Scott, said the fire broke out at 1.30pm.
The train was on its way from Simon’s Town and Fish Hoek.
City Fire and Rescue spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, said the train had suffered severe damage to its motorised locomotive and two carriages while two other carriages were slightly damaged.
The fire was extinguished at 4.05pm and no injuries were reported. Mr Carelse said the cause of the fire was not clear.
Besides firefighters, the police and Metrorail’s technical, operations and security teams were on the scene. All inbound/outbound trains to Simon’s Town were affected and forced to terminate at Fish Hoek station.
Ms Scott said once the train had been removed, safety tests would be done to assess whether the fire had damaged infrastructure.
The cost of the damage, she said, could only be confirmed
once the wrecked train had been taken to the depot and inspected by Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa loss adjusters.
In August last year arson damage to trains cost about R50 million, and at least R210 million over the past five years, according to a provincial government statement at the time.
It said Prasa needed 88 train sets to run an effective service but
had fewer than 40 because of
arson, cable theft and vandalism (“Rail rescue,” Echo, August 9 2018).
