Commuter rail operator Metrorail said a power failure, following the theft of about 55 m of overhead power cable at Centurion on Friday morning had halted the train service on the Pretoria–Johannesburg corridor, affecting trains to and from Johannesburg.

On the same corridor, a faulty train had also broken the overhead wire at the Kaalfontein station, affecting overhead power in the up mainline, which impacted on all Pretoria and Leralla trains.

Further, also on Friday morning, a panto hook-up at Koedoespoort station caused extensive damage on the feeder wire, cutting the 11 KV supply of power and causing the Capital Park and Koedoespoort panels to malfunction. All corridors in the north of Pretoria were badly affected with delays escalating to over two hours. This affected the movement of trains from Mamelodi to Pretoria via Capital Park and Rissik.

Metrorail said it had introduced manual authorisations on affected corridors using single lines to ensure the safe movement of trains and to minimise service delays.

“We hope that the introduced contingency plan will minimise these delays going forward; our technical teams are resolving the problems to stabilise the region in the north of Pretoria,” the rail operator said in a statement.