The Blue Train will stay at the station. Several incidents have prompted the South African company Transnet to suspend all trips aboard this mythical and luxurious train which connects Cape Town to Pretoria in two days. It will be back in service after “an in-depth technical evaluation”.
“Following recent incidents affecting the Blue Train, management has decided to temporarily suspend operations while the train undergoes a thorough technical assessment”said the public transport company Transnet, which does not give a date for its return to service.
The line had suffered disruptions, ranging from derailment at the exit of a station located about twenty kilometers from Johannesburg in November, to a fire in February. The fire, whose origin has not yet been determined, had affected a car being repaired in a depot near the capital.
The Blue Train was put into service 75 years ago. Jewel of South African rail, it covers 1,600 kilometers “ebetween Pretoria, the capital, and Cape Town, through fields, slums, urban centers and dream landscapes”explained franceinfo Africa in March 2021.
Stopped for several months because of the Covid, the train had started to circulate again in November 2020, boarding mainly South Africans because foreign travelers had deserted the country. The company had then lowered its prices to fill its luxurious wagons, but at a cost of some 1,300 euros per person in full board, the trip was not within the reach of all budgets in this country with strong income disparities.
The Blue Train, like the Orient Express, is one of the world’s finest means of transport, with butler service, gourmet meals and the finest cognacs served on board with Cuban cigars, specifies the AFP.