South Africa’s state-owned passenger rail operator has apologized for stranding riders on a train from Johannesburg to Cape Town for more than a day as food reportedly dwindled and carriages began to stink.
A statement by the Shosholoza Meyl division says the train was scheduled to arrive in Cape Town on Monday evening but instead is expected to arrive near midnight Tuesday.
The journey between South Africa’s most well-known cities is popular with tourists and usually lasts roughly 20 hours. The train departed Sunday.
The statement says alternate transport had arrived at the stranded train to shuttle passengers to their destinations. The rail operator blames locomotive failures for the “unpleasant experience” and says a rescue locomotive was then held up by rail maintenance along the route.
South Africa’s commuter trains, especially more local ones, have seen a number of accidents and incidents in recent years.
Some of the country’s state-owned businesses have been struggling amid mismanagement, corruption and a weak economy. Those include the state-owned power utility Eskom and state-owned South African Airways.
