Botshabelo residents plead for return of passenger train services

PHUTI MOSOMANE

THE residents of the Free State who attended the public hearings on the Railway Safety Bill, organised by the Portfolio Committee on Transport, in Botshabelo, Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, have called for the reinstatement of the long distance and local train service in the province.

A majority of the members of the public in those public hearings said bringing back the train service will reduce the number of cars and trucks on the roads which connect Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Kingdom of Lesotho, and also reduce road accidents.

The residents said the train is a safer and cheaper mode of transport compared to road transport and will also boost the economy of the province. The committee was also asked to influence the government to enforce a law that will ban the transportation of dangerous goods by road, and that commodities such as gas, fuel, explosives and coal