The Cape Flats Line is a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

line in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, operated by

Metrorail Western Cape Metrorail Western Cape is a network of commuter and suburban rail services in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality (metropolitan area of Cape Town) and in the surrounding towns of Malmesbury, Western Cape, Malmesbury, Paarl, Stellenbo ...

. It connects central Cape Town with the suburbs of Pinelands,

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

, Lansdowne, Ottery, Southfield, Healthfield and Retreat.

Route

The Cape Flats Line service begins at the central

Cape Town railway station Cape Town railway station is the main railway station of the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It is located along Adderley Street, Adderley and Strand Street (Cape Town), Strand Streets, in the city's Cape Town CBD, central business district ...

, from which it runs east along the Cape Town– Bellville main line as far as Maitland. After Maitland station it goes off to the south, passing along the western edge of Pinelands before crossing under the

N2 freeway The N2 is a national route in South Africa that runs from Cape Town through George, Gqeberha, East London, Mthatha, Port Shepstone and Durban to Ermelo. It is the main highway along the Indian Ocean coast of the country. Its current length of ...

and over the Black River. It then continues south through

and Lansdowne, and then south-west through Ottery and Southfield, before joining the Southern Line route at Heathfield. Services on the Cape Flats Line terminate at occasionally at Heathfield, with the line terminus being Retreat.

Operation

The line is made up of double track, electrified with 3,000 V DC

overhead catenary An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...

. Services are operated by

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

s of

X'Trapolis Mega The X'Trapolis Mega is an electric multiple unit (EMU), and part of the X'Trapolis family. It is built by Gibela, a joint venture between French company Alstom and South African company Ubumbano Rail, for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Afr ...

References

{{Cape Town, transport Metrorail (South Africa) Railway lines in South Africa 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in South Africa