International Railroad Discussion > South African Passenger Trains

Can anyone provide details or recent experiences on the regular economy long distance train between Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg?
"The Man in Seat 61" website is quite high on these trains. It says they are relatively nice (modernized sleepers and a decent restaurant car) and safe to ride, though not as good a Premier Class train, obviously.
I plan to ride it in December.

ACF

Not sure when the Man in Seat 61 review was written. His reporting is generally quite representative of reality. That said, passenger service in SA has gone down hill significantly in recent years. While I haven't ridden any of the regular South African passenger trains other than the high end Blue Train, I subscribe to a Yahoo SA Rail discussion group. There are posted many bad experiences, mostly by South Africans. Trains tend to run very late and at times don't meet their destinations due to vandalism of the actual track or overhead wires (copper and wood is stolen and sold). So don't make any same day connections. Trains often run out of food or simply don't stock what's on the menu. So bring your own. Crews can range from competent to down right surely (sound familiar?) Crime is a huge problem in SA....especially if you are white traveling among the mostly black population (not racist, just fact). So keep your windows closed and door locked. Do not leave any valuables including camera equipment unattended in you room. On a positive note, the route you will be taking is spectacular. I would say go for it. Just be prepared for the worst and then anything positive is a bonus. For a better experience, consider Rovos Rail, a privately run luxury train that runs weekly between Cape Town and Pretoria (or whatever the locals call it now). Scenery isn't much but there is an open platform observation car, excellent food, and top notch service with very large bedrooms. Aimed at the tourist crowd. Pricey but you get what you pay for.

Thanks. We will be sampling Rovos and Blue Train earlier in the trip, but were considering an ordinary train experience as well.

ACF

I didn't have a chance to ride, but i photographed a lot of Shosholoza Meyl trains passing through Wellington and Beaufort West. They tended to show up on schedule. The clientele was from all walks of life, backpackers, Afrikaner farmers, farm workers, etc. The trains looked clean inside.

In chatting with local rail fans, i would only use the shosholoza Meyl's that have sleeping cars. You would want to avoid the sitter class trains. Those are generally used by migrant mine an farm workers, not intl tourists

South Africa gets bashed a lot, but out of 45 countries, its the best place vacation I've had...if you're wondering what the worst was...China..egad... :)

Adam