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Home - City Guide - Cape Town - Rail | ||
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Rail Cape Town Station in Adderley Street services both national and suburban lines. The station is in a vast, vaulted building and houses a tacky array of kiosks selling food and drink, books, magazines and pharmaceuticals. The main service provider, Spoornet (tel: (021) 449 3871), operates all mainline services, while Cape Metro Rail (tel: (080) 065 6463, toll free) runs the suburban service. Rail services: Passenger trains to Johannesburg depart twice a day, and offer a relaxed alternative to flying, with dining cars and serviced compartments (tel: (021) 449 3871). Travelling time to Johannesburg is about 30 hours. The premier train in South Africa, the Blue Train (tel: (021) 449 2672) makes regular stops, with speciality trips to destinations like Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls as part of the schedule. This is luxury train travel at its best, with silver service and crystal glass dining, and first-class cuisine. Cape Metro Rail (tel: (080) 065 6463, toll free) services the suburban lines, with regular departures, but provides a limited service at weekends. The Cape Town to Simon's Town train, which travels metres from the edge of the ocean on the latter part of the journey, is particularly spectacular. Note that security on trains at night is not good, and it is advisable to travel in a group. Monthly train passes are available on the suburban lines, and are considerably cheaper than daily tickets. Transport to the city: Cape Town Station is situated in the heart of the city centre. Metred taxis are available at the exit. |