I was planning to write this up the moment I got back, but I was so relieved, I decided against it completely. Now that I have a few minutes to spare (and the photos to prove it), I’d like to relate what happened to me on Friday the 15th of August, 2008. This was the same day a bunch of cable thieves stole signal cable from the Woodstock Metrorail station, throwing nearly every Western Cape line into disarray.

The announcement board at the Cape Town station - AM.

M&G reported the theft, which happened late on Thursday night. The morning (05:40) train from Strand to Cape Town was delayed by nearly thirty minutes. When we finally got to Woodstock, we were delayed another hour as Metrorail engineers tried to figure out a way to move eight trains over one track. An extremely complicated game of chess with titanic pieces. Quite a few of our passengers couldn’t wait for the encore - they ditched the trains early:

Commuters jumped off the trains, walked to work along the tracks.

We eventually hit Cape Town two hours late, and I took that photo of the announcement board above. By the time I got back from work, they were all dead, and the station was in complete confusion.

Commuters wait for the Strand train to arrive.

They had eventually lost track of which trains were supposed to be on which lines, and which times they were supposed to be travelling at. They had to cancel several lines, and arrange the rest via cell- and megaphone. It reminded me more of a Zambian bus station than anything else - marshals yelling out which train is going where, plus the general noise people make when they’re confused … you get the picture.

I suppose the most striking thing about all of this is that it only took a handful - maybe two, three - thieves to throw a transport system moving tens of thousands of people out of order. One of the other passengers I was stuck in the train with made that point quite clearly. Apart from the monetary losses, stealing is an incredibly selfish and irresponsible act. I guess I got my first taste of the effects of that on Friday.

Despite that, though, I was still impressed with Metrorail’s capability to deliver. The people on the ground were helpful, and it really was their priority to make sure I got on the right train when it arrived. Plus, by 5pm, they had managed to sort out most of the logistics, and I think we made record time back to Strand.

Now let’s just hope it doesn’t happen again, alright? :)