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Shosholoza Meyl

Long-distance train service in South Africa

Field	Value
name	Shosholoza Meyl
image	File:Shosholoza Meyl.jpg
image_caption	A Shosholoza Meyl train at Johannesburg Park station in 2015
logo	SHOSHOLOZA MEYL LOGO.png
logo_size	200px
location	Braamfontein
industry	Rail transport
products	Long-distance passenger rail
homepage	[shosholozameyl.co.za](http://www.shosholozameyl.co.za)

Shosholoza Meyl is a division of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) that operates long-distance (intercity) passenger rail services. It operates various train routes across South Africa, carrying approximately 4 million passengers annually. Before 2009, Shosholoza Meyl was a division of Spoornet, but it was transferred after the formation of PRASA.

"Shosholoza" is the name of a popular South African song about workers on a train and it therefore means moving forward. "Meyl" is a word that is related to a South African word for "long distance train", according to the Spoornet/Shosholoza Meyl website. The company's name prior to change was "Mainline Passenger Services".

In August 2010, Shosholoza Meyl suspended services claiming either contract difficulties (between Transnet and Prasa) or unreliable trains. Some services began to resume in November 2010.

Shosholoza Meyl services were suspended by PRASA following a fatal crash with a goods train on 12 February 2020. A revised service was introduced from 27 November 2020, which due to Covid-19 restrictions limits seating capacity and passengers need to supply their own food, drinks, and bedding.

Routes

Shosholoza Meyl route map (several routes shown were not operating in 2024)

, Shosholoza Meyl only operates during the December to March peak season and only on the following route:

Johannesburg – Bloemfontein – Queenstown - East London

Track and equipment

Shosholoza Meyl at Quarry loop near Touws River

Shosholoza Meyl trains run on the Cape gauge () Transnet mainline track. The trains are locomotive-pulled. Most routes are completely electrified 3 kV DC and 25 kV AC systems, usually class 6E1 or class 18E locomotives on the 3 kV system and class 7E on the 25 kV system. Diesel is used on the Johannesburg – Port Elizabeth trains between Bloemfontein and Noupoort, and on the Durban - Cape Town trains between Bloemfontein and Kimberley. Before 2002, the Pretoria – Cape Town trains were hauled by diesel locomotives between Kimberley and De Aar.

Consists

The trains are made up of three types of coach:

Sleeper 4: six 4-person compartments and two 2-person coupés, plus shower and toilet facilities.
Sleeper 6: six 6-person compartments and two 3-person coupés, plus shower and toilet facilities.
Sitter: 72 seats, in 18 rows of 4 seats with an aisle in the middle, plus toilet facilities. There are also various older types of carriages with differing levels of comfort used as sitters.

Since 1 July 2006 Shosholoza Meyl has operated its sleepers and sitters as separate trains. Starting from 1 November 2006 sleeping carriages were re-introduced on selected Economy Trains, this decision was however reversed shortly thereafter. Now the Economy Trains convey 'Sitter' carriages only.

Incidents

On 4 January 2018, a passenger train operated by Shosholoza Meyl collided with a truck on a level crossing near Kroonstad. The train was derailed and at least one of the carriages caught fire. Twenty one people were killed and 254 were injured.

On 12 February 2020, another Shosholoza Meyl train collided with a goods train near Bonny Doone Road in Horizon View, west of Johannesburg. One person died in the incident and several people were injured.{{cite web

References

"Our Routes".
"Detail of Division - Spoornet".
""Leaner" Shosholoza Meyl Service". Railways Africa.
"Shosholoza Meyl Services Reinstated". Railways Africa.
"Shosholoza Meyl is finally back. Here's how much you will pay for long-distance trains".
Phaliso, Sandiso. (3 October 2024). "Three of four Shosholoza Meyl train routes halted indefinitely".
(4 January 2018). "South Africa train crash: Four dead in truck collision". BBC News.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

railway-companies-of-south-africa transnet passenger-rail-transport-in-south-africa

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