The Northern 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 ...

service in

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 ...

that in the

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 ...

metropolitan area and its surroundings and is 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 ...

. Northern Line services operate from central Cape Town to Bellville, and then from Bellville along three different routes. The first route runs along the main Cape Town–

De Aar De Aar is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It has a population of around 42,000 inhabitants. It is the second-most important railway junction in the country, situated on the line between Cape Town and Kimberley. The juncti ...

railway line to

Paarl Paarl (; ; derived from ''parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a city with 294,457 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest city in the Boland, Western Cape, Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni ...

and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. The second route passes through

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

to terminate at Muldersvlei station on the main line, while the third also passes through

Somerset West Somerset West () is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality Eastern Suburbs zone (formerly called ...

to terminate in

Strand Strand or The Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * ...

. Operations on the Northern Line halted in March 2020 in response to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Operations resumed in late 2021 with trains on the relief main line past

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California, United States. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Los Angeles, Cent ...

and Monte Vista terminating at

Kraaifontein Kraaifontein is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa and is located on the north-eastern outskirts of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name originated from the large number of crows (''Kraai'' in Afrikaans) that ...

. In early 2022, operations on the old main line through Salt River and Maitland as well as operations to

resumed. In November 2023, operations to

resumed. In 2024, operations on the line to Muldersvlei station through

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

resumed. As of September 2024, all segments of the Northern Line are operational.

Route

Most Northern Line trains travel from Cape Town station along the old main line through Salt River, Maitland, Goodwood and Parow to Bellville station. Trains on the Wellington route continue from Bellville along the main line through Brackenfell and

, and then through the farmland outside the metropolitan area to reach the towns of

and

. Other trains branch south-east after Bellville, passing through Kuils River to

Eerste River The Eerste River, located in the Western Cape, South Africa, rises on Dwarsberg 60 km east of Cape Town at the head of Jonkershoek valley. The Eerste River catchment covers the eastern part of the Cape Flats lying to the west of the Hott ...

; From there, some turn north to pass through

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

and terminate at Muldersvlei station on the main line, while others continue south-east through

along the line towards Caledon. Shortly after Somerset West they branch from this line to terminate at

on the

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans: ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarc ...

coast. The Northern Line also includes a service along the relief main line from Cape Town past

and Monte Vista to Bellville.

Station listing

The Northern line serves the following stations:

Operation

The line is made up of 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 ...

; most of the routes are at least double track, except for the Strand and Stellenbosch lines beyond Eerste River. Services are operated mostly 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 Class 5M2.

References

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