Cape Town - Plumes of smoke could be seen coming from Cape Town station while Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa board and management members were briefing MPs at a nearby hotel about arson attacks on trains and other issues which have seen rail services crippled in the country.

As the team were briefing MPs, the chairperson of Parliament's portfolio committee on transport Dikeledi Magadzi informed Transport Minister Blade Nzimande, who is also present at the briefing, that another fire was reported at the busy CBD station.





Prasa board chairwoman Khanyisile Kweyama confirmed the incident, telling MPs the reason she looked "upset" was that she had just received a message that "platforms 16 and 17 are burning".

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The last fire at the station was just over a week ago, which brought rail services to a halt.

In the past few weeks, the Western Cape has been hit hard by arson attacks which have caused major delays for commuters.

Prasa on Tuesday put its losses due to arson attacks on its Metrorail trains at R636 million over the past three years. Prasa chief executive Sibusiso Sithole said 71 percent of the arson attacks had taken place in the Western Cape, with losses in the province due to gutted train coaches standing at R451.6 million.