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10 October 2006

It is common knowledge that South Africa's modern day economy cannot prosper without proper planning and execution of suitable and competitive investment in transport services and infrastructure. Our bigger challenge is to ensure that the allocation of these resources facilitate proper access to basic services and economic opportunities. We are aware of the tremendous benefits and services that our rail services bring to the whole of South Africa.

The Khayelitsha Rail Line Extension today bears testimony to the increased economic opportunities for the people of Khayelitsha. However, we cannot shy away from terrible incidents within our rail system, some of which are caused by human error, design faults and technology failure. But we are tackling these challenges head-on. Tangible work has now begun to show. The South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC) has begun to expand and improve the rail commuter service throughout the country.

We have for instance embarked on a renewed attempt to plan and provide the long awaited and desired rail extension in Khayelitsha due to the more than 450 000 people who live in Khayelitsha. And more than 120 000 residents work outside Khayelitsha. The extension was therefore necessary because the existing rail service only catered for 50% of the community and the remainder relies heavily on taxis and buses. I can therefore confirm that the project we are launching today is economically viable and is fully supported by the people of Khayelitsha.

The demand for services within Khayelitsha has signified the need for us to take drastic measures to ensure that the following rail infrastructure will alleviate rail services in this area: 4,5 kilometres length of double electrified and signalled rail line; four road over rail bridges; four fully accessible stations; two fully accessible transport interchanges; alterations to existing road infrastructure; and road network upgrading to ensure connectivity and sufficient accessibility to stations and bridges; three newly refurbished train-sets; land acquisition.

This project is an integral part of the public transport development plan in the Cape region and it is viewed as a transport corridor project since it is essentially a partnership between the Department of Transport (DoT), the SARCC Metrorail and the City of Cape Town. The provincial government and the City of Cape Town generally regard the KRE project as the anchor project in the Urban Renewal Programme for the region. More recently, it has been established that the Khayelitsha Rail Extension Project is well aligned with the Urban Renewal Programme as announced by the State President in the 'Soccer World Cup.'

This project will contribute towards the establishment of an efficient rail system as one of the backbones of World Cup spectator transport and will create a lasting legacy of significant public transport improvements. I must stress that government's commitment of R305 million to this project is evidence enough to reflect government's commitment to improving its rail infrastructure.

This amount caters for the planning and design phase as well as the actual construction of the rail infrastructure and the provision of three newly refurbished train sets which have been updated in order to improve reliability. Furthermore, a decision was made to fit 'fully re-bodied' coaches to the 10M4 and 10M5 standards in order to achieve higher reliability. The project will benefit the greater community of Khayelitsha, as it will enormously improve the transport conditions of the community. On a short-term basis, it will provide jobs during the construction phase of the project.

To date the project has absorbed more than 100 local people of which 60% accounts for women and youth. It also helped create opportunities for more than 14 local based, small and medium sized enterprises. For most people, easy access and more frequent points to obtain access to the train service will be provided as the proposed rail line extension will be constructed close to their homes and businesses. I am delighted that the capital cost of the infrastructure that will become the property of the City of Cape Town is estimated to be in the order of R95 million. It includes four road-over rail bridges, four pedestrian bridges, two transport interchanges and other road users.

The project's positive contributions are that:

* It is the first commuter rail extension project after many decades.
* It is enabling new jobs creation during the construction phase of the project and skills transfer from main contractors to the local community.
* It is a seamless transport system by means of Intermodal facilities and improved universal accessibility and mobility.
* It is enabling the creation of a lasting legacy of significant public transport improvements and development of the transport conditions for the greater community of Khayelitsha, thus ensuring economic growth stimulation within the community.

Ladies and gentlemen, government is committed to invest as much as it can in railway infrastructure. I am pleased to announce that we have invested R3,1 billion through SARCC for the refurbishment and general overhaul of coaches, signalling and other capital investment for the 2006/07 financial years. The safety and security systems in the passenger rail system are being revamped including the deployment of 500 rail police in the Western Cape to be expanded to Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal and over 5 000 South African Police Services (SAPS) Rail police to be deployed by 2008.

We intend to diversify training and deployment of police personnel throughout the railway system in the country. This development will be supported by the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in railway stations and trains. In conclusion I must say it is important to note that since our interventions to curb criminal activities in the rail system, we have witnessed a 63% decrease in criminal activities in Cape Town rail stations; customer injury has also decreased and fare evasion has gone down to less than 5%. Because of our growing economy, we are not going to be complacent in terms of safety and security, fleet upgrading and infrastructure upgrading. We still have a long way to go.

I thank you!

Issued by: Department of Transport
10 October 2006
Source: SAPA