By Buffalo City Reporter
12 May 2008

THE new Kei Rail weekend passenger train service has been so well received, the Eastern Cape provincial government has announced a new daily service on the 281km line between East London and Mthatha.

MEC for safety, liaison, roads and transport Thobile Mhlahlo made the announcement at the Eastern Cape Rail Conference in Port Elizabeth last week. He said that the Kei Rail Project was one of the department's flagship programmes in its Back to Rail strategy.

"Due to the popularity of this service and pressure of demand from members of the community, we will introduce a daily service for the Kei Rail line from 1 August this year," Mhlahlo said.

The new service would link up with the Shosholoza Meyl train service that operated between East London and Johannesburg.

"The Kei Rail daily service will operate daily except on Saturdays and Wednesdays. It will also operate at night on Fridays and Sundays to accommodate the demand from commuters," Mhlahlo explained.

To ensure that the new service would be successful, he said the department was spending R30-million to refurbish 20 passenger coaches.

"The refurbishment of Kei Rail, which cost R120-million, has provided the rural communities in the eastern part of the province with an opportunity to access safe, reliable and affordable public transport."

Talking about numbers on the weekend passenger service, which was launched by Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe in March, Mhlahlo said that the latest figures showed that 240 passengers were transported between East London and Mthatha every Saturday and 260 passengers were transported on Sundays at a cost of R30 per trip, which was R50 cheaper than a taxi.

Looking to the future, he said that the department intended introducing a freight service on the Kei Rail line.

"We are currently in discussion with various interested organisations and companies that want to collect or deliver their goods at Mthatha station. Our main targets include timber, cement, fuel and agricultural products."