Andre Klynsmith

Public Transport

Durban's Commuter Rail Loses 41% of Its Passengers in a Single Year

Durban's Metrorail commuter service carried an average of about 33 000 passengers a day in the 2025/26 financial year, down from roughly 56 000 the year before — a 41% fall and the first decline since 2021/22.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

6 September 2026 • 4 min read

Durban's rail network carried about 281 000 people a day in 2018. It now carries a fraction of that, and the recovery has stalled on infrastructure that cannot be repaired fast enough. Every commuter who leaves the train joins the road — on the same corridors freight has to share.

A recovery that went backwards

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa's own figures, obtained by GroundUp, show Durban ridership falling from about 56 000 daily passengers in 2024/25 to roughly 33 000 in 2025/26. The low point of the post-Covid collapse was about 9 700 a day in 2021/22, after vandalism and infrastructure failure gutted the network, so the service had been climbing until this year.

PRASA spokesperson Andiswa Makanda attributed the drop to difficulties repairing damaged and vandalised infrastructure. The current financial year shows some improvement: about 982 000 passengers a month on average from April to July 2026, against roughly 850 000 a month through 2025/26. Train trips have also increased, from an average of 124 a day in 2024/25 to about 170 a day now.

Which lines are actually running

The Bluff line remains closed. The Chatsworth line runs on a single track between Merebank and Crossmoor, meaning trains can move in only one direction at a time, and the Old Main line is single-track between Rossburgh and Pinetown. The Southern Coast line, previously terminating at Isipingo, has been extended five stops to Winklespruit, but the remainder is on hold until the Illovo bridge — destroyed by floods in 2022 — is rebuilt. Only sections of the Northern Coast and KwaMashu lines are operating, and the KwaMashu–Umlazi line, with 17 return trips a day, is the only one running both north and south of Durban station.

Makanda said Crossmoor is due to be fixed in September and Pinetown by November. Overhead lines and signalling equipment on the Northern Coast and KwaMashu lines have been stolen or vandalised and need replacing — and parts of those lines are owned by Transnet, not PRASA. The agency has been trying for at least two years to finalise a memorandum of understanding with Transnet to get that work done; in September 2024 it described the talks as being at an advanced stage.

The numbers understate the problem

The passenger data itself carries a caveat worth noting: ticket offices at some stations are frequently closed, tickets are rarely checked, and PRASA does not count passengers travelling without paying. Nineteen stations now offer card machines, but a GroundUp reporter attempting to pay by card at Durban station was told digital payments were closed and to pay cash, with a card machine visible in the booth but no operator available.

Service reliability is the other half of the story. On a ride-along in late August, a train scheduled to leave Durban at 08:29 departed at 08:36 carrying about five passengers, with roughly ten more joining by Reunion. The return train was timetabled for 09:43, an official then said 10:30, and it arrived at 10:15 — with the timetables displayed at Reunion and Durban stations not matching each other. Trains and stations were clean, with visible security on platforms and staff clearing vegetation from the rails, but station escalators remain unrepaired and fencing at some stations is still broken.

About the Author
	Andre Klynsmith Entrepreneur & Technology Enthusiast Andre's expertise spans technology, blockchain, transport, and logistics -- with a passion for innovation and driving positive change across industries. info@laaimylorrie.com | laaimylorrie.com