The newly-established Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, PRASA, merges the operations, personnel and assets of the South African Rail Commuter Corporation, Metrorail, Intersite Property Management Services, Shosholoza Meyl and the long distance bus company, Autopax (Translux and City-to-City). As part of the process of integrating these entities, the role of Intersite is being redefined in order to more effectively support PRASA’s new strategic direction and objectives.

Why PRASA

In the past, the institutional arrangements that governed passenger rail and the entire public transport system did not promote efficiency, innovation and accountability. There was also a great deal of confusion between the contractor and regulatory functions embodied in the South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC). It was essential, therefore, to overcome the fragmented and dysfunctional institutional arrangements that existed in the provision of passenger services.

A key Government consideration was the need to find sustainable funding solutions as part of its efforts to reverse the decline in commuter rail services. The National Rail Plan, approved by Cabinet in December 2006, identified the funding and investment requirements for passenger rail over the next 10 years.

PRASA is at the forefront of Government efforts to transform public transport in South Africa, with rail services forming the backbone of the network. The essence of PRASA is to integrate inter-modal facilities and services into public transport solutions that optimise the performance of the whole transport system.

Beyond this, the most important reason for consolidating passenger rail entities was the need to address the under-performance of rail passenger services and the historical under-investment in this sector. The mobilisation by ordinary South Africans and their determination to have access to decent public transport, together with the urgent need for efficient public transport during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, were also among the key drivers for the transformation.

Government aims to achieve the following key objectives in the future:

• Sustainability of passenger rail service delivery;
• Improvement of passenger rail services in terms of quality and passenger service levels;
• Improved efficiency in service delivery;
• Improved effectiveness of asset management;
• Effective targeting of subsidies to achieve socio-economic & transport objectives;
• Improved oversight by Government; and
• Improved accountability to users.

PRASA’s establishment also comes against the background of major changes in the world that present opportunities for the railway industry to play a positive role in global development.

The first step is to acknowledge South Africa’s strong railway tradition with the aim of using past learnings to enable PRASA to rise to the new challenges of providing effective and efficient public transport in this country. It’s also of vital importance to mobilise the energies of each employee in creating a railway service that forms an integral part of the renewal of the transport system and our society as a whole.

There is growing consensus that things can no longer be done in the old way. There is a need for rapid change that must be led by PRASA’s most important resource – its people; real change that will make PRASA and all South Africans very proud.

The Government has taken the lead by creating a new organisation that moulds rail passenger transport into a single entity and adds long distance road based services, in an effort to broaden the strategic leverage that can be deployed in support of government’s socio-economic and transport objectives.

Simply put, PRASA is about mobility and accessibility – the movement of people - and providing them access to real opportunities that will help them improve their lives. The organisation’s key objective will therefore be to promote rail as the preferred mode of transport for the masses.

PRASA is made up of four distinct businesses:

Metrorail
- commuter rail services in urban metropolitan areas

Shosholoza Meyl
- regional and long-distance (inter-city) rail-based passenger transport services

Autopax
- road based regional (inter-city) passenger services (Translux and City-to-city)

Intersite
- property management and portfolio development.

At present, the PRASA Group constitutes around 70% of the resources coming from Government as subsidies, while the balance comes from internally generated cash-flow. PRASA’s challenge will be to reduce its dependence on government subsidies by innovatively positioning itself so that it can generate resources from the exploitation of its assets. By driving efficiency measures, raising fare income by increasing passenger numbers and improving revenue from the property portfolio, the subsidy per passenger is expected to decrease. The goal is to ensure that the subsidy benefits the maximum number of passengers.

PRASA’s critical objective over the next few years is to upgrade the existing passenger railway system in order to meet the challenges of a modern society. This means implementing plans for the modernisation of the signalling, telecommunications systems, rolling stock and train operating systems. Its business units will focus on the delivery of high-quality services.

For PRASA to operate more effectively, it must consolidate a number of strategic functions that impact on the efficient running of Metrorail, Shosholoza Meyl and Autopax. Strategic Asset Management and allocation of investment resources will therefore be a key function, as well as implementing funding models aimed at ensuring that transport services are provided on a sustainable basis.