TRAIN commuters will travel in style to World Cup matches in June. Metrorail will provide refurbished trains to make the journey to the stadiums even morememorable.
TRAIN commuters will travel in style to World Cup matches in June. Metrorail will provide refurbished trains to make the journey to the stadiums even morememorable.
Fifa has restricted parking distances from the stadium to at least a kilometre. This means that most soccer fans will either park and ride or just hop on to the trains. For instance, those watching matches at Soccer City near Soweto will be dropped off five minutes away from the stadium.
Sibusiso Ngomane, Metrorail spokesperson, said the experience gained from the Confederations Cup had come in handy in their planning for the World Cup.
"We transport about 2,2million people each weekday. During the Confed Cup 70percent of the people who used our trains were our usual passengers.
"We have dedicated an additional 610 trains to transport fans during the World Cup. Most of the trains will be our refurbished locomotives," he said.
Ngomane said 168 trains would be allocated to all the Coca-Cola Park (Ellis Park) games and 240 would be allocated for games at Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Soccer City will have 202 trains at its disposal.
"We are hoping for the newly refurbished Nasrec Station, next to Soccer City, to be handed over to us in a week's time. Park and ride facilities will be available for free to all our commuters who will come using their cars.
"To ensure their safety we have organised corporate and contracted security, the South African Rail Police Service and safety patrols for all our commuters.
"Promotions, including the giving away of vuvuzelas and South African flags, will be run at the stations. We are in negotiations with Fifa to see if we can't organise packages which could include game tickets for commuters," he said.
Travel to games in style
TRAIN commuters will travel in style to World Cup matches in June. Metrorail will provide refurbished trains to make the journey to the stadiums even morememorable.
TRAIN commuters will travel in style to World Cup matches in June. Metrorail will provide refurbished trains to make the journey to the stadiums even morememorable.
Fifa has restricted parking distances from the stadium to at least a kilometre. This means that most soccer fans will either park and ride or just hop on to the trains. For instance, those watching matches at Soccer City near Soweto will be dropped off five minutes away from the stadium.
Sibusiso Ngomane, Metrorail spokesperson, said the experience gained from the Confederations Cup had come in handy in their planning for the World Cup.
"We transport about 2,2million people each weekday. During the Confed Cup 70percent of the people who used our trains were our usual passengers.
"We have dedicated an additional 610 trains to transport fans during the World Cup. Most of the trains will be our refurbished locomotives," he said.
Ngomane said 168 trains would be allocated to all the Coca-Cola Park (Ellis Park) games and 240 would be allocated for games at Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Soccer City will have 202 trains at its disposal.
"We are hoping for the newly refurbished Nasrec Station, next to Soccer City, to be handed over to us in a week's time. Park and ride facilities will be available for free to all our commuters who will come using their cars.
"To ensure their safety we have organised corporate and contracted security, the South African Rail Police Service and safety patrols for all our commuters.
"Promotions, including the giving away of vuvuzelas and South African flags, will be run at the stations. We are in negotiations with Fifa to see if we can't organise packages which could include game tickets for commuters," he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos