KZN floods: Nine passenger railway sections severely damaged | Fin24

Nine sections of the KwaZulu-Natal passenger railway have been severely damaged by recent floods, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) said on Monday.

Railway across the Illovo Bridge must be repaired, and tracks, fibre cables, electrical infrastructure and substations have been damaged across the network. 

Prasa expects it will cost up to R2.9 billion to repair the damage.

Some areas remained inaccessible, and the entity would conduct assessments there once water levels there decreased.

In a statement released on Monday, Prasa said it assembled a multidisciplinary disaster management team to assess the damage to the entity’s property and infrastructure and develop a recovery plan.

“According to the collated data and photographic evidence of inaccessible areas, the direct cost of the recovery in the region is estimated to be between R2.6 billion and R2.9 billion,” the statement said.

READ | Drowning in disaster: Can the KZN economy recover?

Prasa said Metrorail experienced “substantial damage” to its rail infrastructure, facilities and rolling stock. The statement said the disaster management team divided its work into two phases.

“Phase one concerns work that needs to be performed to ensure trains are able to travel safely through the flood-affected sections, while phase two focuses on the overall rehabilitation of the infrastructure. 

“Additionally, the loss of fare revenue due to the suspension of train services is estimated at R50 million. This highlights the importance of the teams working quickly to restore services,” the statement said. 

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