The Central Line was the backbone of Cape Town's commuter rail network, connecting the southern suburbs, Cape Flats communities, and the industrial areas of Philippi, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, and Nyanga to the Cape Town CBD. For the approximately 600,000 daily commuters who depended on it — overwhelmingly from poor and working-class communities — it was an essential lifeline to economic participation.
The line had been under increasing pressure for years due to vandalism, but the situation escalated dramatically from 2018. Arson attacks destroyed signal boxes and coaches. Organised syndicates stripped copper cables, overhead traction equipment, and signalling infrastructure. PRASA reported that attacks were often coordinated — with fires set to distract security while theft crews stripped adjacent infrastructure.
In October 2019, PRASA suspended services on the Central Line entirely. By 2022, PRASA reported that 80% of the line's infrastructure had been destroyed, including all overhead traction equipment, all signalling and communication systems, station buildings, perimeter fencing, and even the concrete sleepers supporting the track. Thirty-three of the Western Cape's 40 stations had been vandalised, with many reduced to bare concrete shells.
The human cost has been immense. Former Central Line commuters were forced to switch to minibus taxis at roughly three to four times the cost of a Metrorail ticket, or to abandon employment entirely. A 2021 University of Cape Town study estimated that Central Line commuters were spending an additional R1.2 billion annually on alternative transport — a devastating burden on communities that were already among the city's poorest.
PRASA's attempts to rebuild have been painfully slow. A 2022 parliamentary briefing heard that PRASA had spent R600 million on Central Line recovery but had only managed to restore a small section of track. The full restoration was estimated to take until 2026 at a cost exceeding R7 billion — with no guarantee that rebuilt infrastructure would not be stolen again.
The Central Line case is particularly damning because it represents a complete failure of the state to protect critical public infrastructure. Despite knowing for years that the line was under attack, neither PRASA, SAPS, the City of Cape Town, nor the national government took effective action to prevent its destruction.