It is hard to complain about this mornings train saga when the homebound train ride was so beautiful from Muizenberg to Kalk Bay. But I will have to write a letter to Metrorail about this. My son and I got on the train this morning just after 7am at Kalk Bay station unassumingly. He goes to Kenilworth on Metro Plus (expensive side) and me to Cape Town on the cheaper carriage. The train starts but stops and does not move unannounced in Wittebome station for a while. Then people starts getting off after 10 minutes or so. Finally the security guard tells us that the train is overloaded for its engine and cannot move. We got off and wait there for a while. I went to check around if my son was on the platform but could not see. The announcement finally comes The next train to Cape Town will be shortly ANNOUNCED(not arriving!). Then the security guard comes and says we must move to the other platform as the one we were on has to be moved. Hundreds of us go subway to cross to the other side but there was a congestion at the stairs where the passengers who got off at the other platform try to come down while we try to push up. Finally we are on the other side and more waiting. Then we see that the train we were on start moving and there were still many passengers on it. Basically they tried to halve us so that the trains engine can start. As soon as they saw this, some people started jumping off the platfrom and climbed up between the cariiages. Now the train leaves with many people hanging from it. The security guard tells us to go back to the platform where we got off again. Some of us are now crossing over the railways without going down the subway. Then we hear the hooting of the on-coming train in not so far distance while some people are still crossing. People shout and cheer as they climb up onto the platform. Fortunately nobody was hurt. The train actually stops on the other platform and now everyone have to go back to the other side again (for the third time). It was a complete chaos and it took me 2 hours to get to Cape Town instead of 1 hour. The sick thing is that my son and his friends were actually still on the same train though we could not see each other. It makes me sick to think there were many smaller children as well travelling on their own. I have 2 more days to travel to Cape Town and I am going to stick to the cheap carriage of the train. I hear things are much worse in Khayelitsha line. Who is going to complain to the management of the railway, if not me?
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 16:54:55 +0000
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