Cape Town – Forty cadets from the SA Military Youth Cadets Academy found themselves stranded at Simons Town train station after completing a gruelling four-day coastal hike, due to a reported train service failure. The cadets, eager to return home after their week-long mountain retreat survival camp, were left without transport or funds, causing considerable distress and requiring intervention from parents and academy staff.
The cadets had embarked on their excursion from Muizenberg to Simons Town between 1 and 4 April. According to Dr Randall Petersen, the academy's founder, arrangements had been made with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) for their return journey, and tickets had been purchased in advance. However, upon arriving at Simons Town station, they discovered that no trains were running.
Dr Petersen recounted the ordeal, saying: “What a great day-and-night coastal hike it was. We walked from Muizenberg to Simons Town, sleeping on the dunes and mountains, and now we are looking forward to going home. I phoned Prasa in the morning and they said it is all in order. The children were so excited to go home and to our dismay after waiting we found out there were no trains from the security officer who wanted to chuck us off the station. Luckily our load was a bit lighter because all the food was up. We had no cash to take a bus from Simons Town to Retreat train station where the buses were running. Our train was booked for 1.45pm, a carriage with security. But thankfully it was still light because if we did not have anywhere to go on Friday night we would have been stranded without food or shelter.”
The situation was further complicated by the cadets' lack of funds to secure alternative transportation. With no cash to afford bus fares from Simons Town to Retreat train station, where buses were reportedly operating, the group faced the prospect of being stranded overnight.
Dr Petersen said that he alerted all the parents and hired four cars to assist and had to pay R2 000. He adds: “I phoned Prasa but they were having an attitude, nobody was professional. Some of the parents came with cars to assist us with the children and drop them at their various destinations.”
Thankfully, Dr Petersen was able to alert parents, and with their assistance, four cars were hired at a cost of R2,000 to transport the cadets. Some parents also arrived with their own vehicles to help ferry the children to their respective destinations.
When contacted for comment, Prasa spokesperson Zino Mihi said that a message had been shared on commuter social media groups regarding the service disruption.
The message read: "Power failure between False Bay and Fish Hoek confirmed as Panto Hook up on T0106 outside Fish Hoek."
"This was the message shared on commuter WhatsApp groups and to our other social media platforms. These are technical glitches that are as a result of many factors [for example] environmental. In instances like these, customers are advised to seek other alternative measures as our technical teams investigate the incidents," Mihi explained.
