As of the 1 July 2020, Metrorail Western Cape has resumed a limited operation of trains across South Africa under the Covid-19 National Lockdown level 3 restrictions. For Cape Town this has resulted in trains on the Southern Line operating as a limited service. This means that train times and station stops have been revised to ensure safety of commuters and trialing of train operations during the lockdown. For more information, visit the Metrorail Western Cape website by following this link. Commuters will also notice that the Wizzherd app will only display train schedule information for the Southern Line as the Cape Flats line timetable has not been provided yet. Be sure to access the latest Metrorail train schedule on your phone by downloading the Wizzherd beta app from the Google Play store.
Update: 09 October 2020
Rosebank, Newlands, Harfield Road and Wittebome train stations have been added to the limited Southern Line service. View the Wizzherd app for the most recent train departure times. For more infomation regarding the additional stations, you can read the full Metrorail news article here
Timetable changes due to Covid-19 Lockdown
Train times have only been scheduled with a reduced amount of trains for Monday to Friday and a separate schedule for Saturday. No trains are scheduled to operate on Sunday at this stage. Train departure times have also changed to start from 06:00 in the morning and the last train scheduled for 17:00 during the week. On Saturday's trains will operate between 06:30 and 19:00. This is obviously without any cancellations or additional daily changes to the service. Luckily with the Wizzherd app commuters can easily report cancellations so that fellow commuters can plan their trips better.
Update: 29 July 2020
Train timetable for Southern Line has been extended to include 8 afternoon peak trains. This extension includes the following four trains departing from Retreat: 0428 - 16:10, 0430 - 17:20, 0432 - 18:00 and 0434 - 18:30. The remaining trains departing from Cape Town are: 0429 - 16:50, 0431 - 17:20, 0433 - 18:00 and 0435 - 18:30. These trains are also available to view and track via the Wizzherd app.
Train Numbers Starting from 0400
Many commuters who are using the Wizzherd app will be familiar with the train numbers such as '0124' and '0512'. This train numbers serve as a way to identify the train arrival times and the destinations they travel to. With the Covid-19 schedule for the Southern Line these trains are now starting from numbers '0400'. As before, odd train numbers such '0401' and '0403', are for trains traveling away from Cape Town city center and even numbers such as '0402' and '0404', are travelling to Cape Town. Knowing which train number you are on is helpful when tracking your commute with Wizzherd as it allows you to see how long it will take to reach your destination and how late or early your arrival time was. Using the Wizzherd app also aids the community as it allows other commuters to see how long the train will take to arrive for them. We discuss this in more detail with our blog post titled, Travelling Together with Wizzerd.
Metrorail Express trains are not scheduled to stop at minor stations like Steurhof and Wittebome.
Station changes on the Southern Line
Updates to the train schedules have meant that trains operating during this period, will only travel between Cape Town and Retreat stations. Usually trains on the Southern Line travel as far as Fish Hoek and Simon's Town. Train stops between Retreat and Cape Town have also been reduced to only 13 stations now which excludes Steurhof, Wittebome, Harfield, Newlands and Rosebank. Trains will be expressing the five excluded stations which means that the train will not be stopping to allow commuters to board or disembark. Commuters are advised to use multiple modes of transport during this time such as busses and minibus taxis at interchange stations like, Retreat, Wynberg, Claremont, Mowbray and Cape Town.
Ensuring Public Safety during the Covid-19 Lockdown
With all these changes it is always good to practice health and safety measures during this time. So if you are commuting please be sure to:
- Wear a mask to cover your mouth.
- Maintain safe social distancing of at least 2m.
- Sneeze into a tissue or your elbow.
- Use hand sanitiser or wash your hands before and after travelling.
- Only touch doors and handrails of the vehicle if absolutely necessary.
- Only commute if it's required otherwise remain at home.
For more public transport safety tips, read this article.
Keep Safe. Keep Commuting.
In a nutshell there has been many changes to the Metrorail Western Cape Southern Line timetable. There has been a reduction in the amount of trains scheduled and train station destinations between Cape Town and Retreat. Please make sure to plan your trip ahead of the time to ensure that you have a good experience. As always, start your train commute with the Wizzherd app to ensure that you are helping your community know where the trains are and how long they will take to arrive. Travel safely and keep adhering to the Covid-19 National Lockdown safety measures.