Great Western Coffee Shop

This could have gone in The Wider Picture Overseas bu this is as good a place as any.

Last Thursday, 27th February, the Cape Metro that runs suburban trains in the Western Cape, South Africa, ground to a halt.

The state electricity provider, Eskom, pulled the plug because they hadn't paid their electric bill...

And down here, forget replacemenet bus services.

"Scott said due to the prevailing situation, "all stations were closed this afternoon. No single/return tickets are being sold. Trains stuck in section will be taken to depots and commuters on trains will be assisted to the nearest station."

That in essence means being walked to the nearest station (if the passengers hadn't done that already as that what they usually do in the case of train failures), and then they're on their own.

Makes the UK rail network look quite good, really...

Full story here:

https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/thousands-of-western-cape-metrorail-commuters-left-stranded-after-eskom-cuts-power-43609074

A couple of my colleagues are from SA and power cuts are quite common in SA nowadays.

Very true. It goes by the eumphamism of "load shedding" and is the resultof the state-owned electricity provider being unable to meet its commitments through 25 years worth of underinvestmentand minimal maintemance.

But as the article I linked to points out, the railway is a priority customer. They don't get knocked off for two hours at a time like the normal population do down here quite regularly.

"Word on the street" has it that this was a case of "call my bluff" that failed dismally. The railways thought that Eskom wouldn't have the nerve to cut them off and cause travel chaos to thousands. Well now they know different...

Interesting that the railways are a priority customer. When I was in Poland – which has a very reliable electricity system – in the late 90s/early 00s there were a couple of cases when the (then state-run) railways were deliberately cut off because they owed the generator so much in unpaid bills.

In most countries, including the UK, electric railways are "priority customers" and wont normally be cut off due to a shortage of generating capacity.
This however does NOT give immunity against being cut off for non payment.