Prasa says there just aren't enough locomotives, while rail activist group #UniteBehind believes problems with long-distance locomotives is due to corruption at the rail agency over the years.

Listen to this article 5 min Listen to this article 5 min Families hoping to travel across the country by rail over the December holidays will need to make other plans. The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has told GroundUp that all but one of its long-distance routes have been suspended, with no clear commitment on when services will resume.

The only route that will be operating over the December-March peak season will be between Johannesburg and East London, according to Prasa.

Rail activist group #UniteBehind believes the problems with long-distance train services are a direct result of corruption at Prasa over the years.

Going nowhere slowly

Shosholoza Meyl, which handles Prasa's long-distance train services, has had its trains out of service in Gauteng and the Western Cape since 2020, when it was shut down on the Railway Safety Regulator's instructions after a fatal crash outside Johannesburg.

It ran four routes: Johannesburg to Durban, Johannesburg to Musina via Polokwane, Johannesburg to Cape Town, and Johannesburg to East London.

It initially resumed with limited operations in 2022 on two routes: Johannesburg to East London and Johannesburg to Musina.

The Johannesburg-to-Durban and Johannesburg-to-Cape Town routes resumed in December...