Catching a train out of Johannesburg

May 3 2013

When we arrived at the main train station in Johannesburg, we soon got three clues that the city’s reputation as one of the most dangerous in the world was not an exaggeration.

The first clue was when we walked into the train station on the second level, and were immediately greeted with a view overlooking the main waiting area and concourse below. I took out the camera and snapped a picture of the scene.

Almost as soon as I had pressed the shutter button, a nearby security guard said, “You can’t take pictures in here.”

I quickly put the camera away, wondering if five more guards were about to pounce on me and wrestle away the offending device. Thankfully, that last part happened only in my imagination.

However, we shortly got a second clue when we went to the ticket office to pick up our prepaid tickets. We had two rooms booked in a sleeper car on the overnight train to Port Elizabeth, on the south coast of South Africa. The five of us entered the ticket office room, our luggage in tow. We were greeted by two security guards. One of them seemed a head taller than any of us.

He did not say “Hello.” He did not say “Can I help you?” He said, “Why are you here?”

“We have to pick up our tickets for the train to Port Elizabeth,” Barbara said.

Unconvinced, the guard said, “Let me see your reservation.”

Barbara produced a sheet of paper. With no change in expression, the guard told her, “You sit over there, when it’s your turn, you get up and go to the window.” There was a line of ticket windows on one side of the room, and a queue of seated people on the opposite wall, facing the windows.

“The rest of you,” he said, turning to us, “you sit over there and wait until she’s finished.”

Once Barbara had finished running this gauntlet and we had tickets in hand, we felt it was time for something to eat. We had all just got off overnight flights a few hours earlier. We walked through the large waiting room and found a waffle and dessert restaurant near the main entrance. We sat at a table on the concourse, outside the restaurant, and pulled our five cases together beside our table. That’s when we got our third clue about just how dangerous Johannesburg is.

The manager came over to our table. “I think you should move inside. Your luggage, it’s not safe out here.”

A little surprised, but thankful for the concern, we moved ourselves and our bags into the restaurant itself. Then we set about deciding among all the delicious things on the menu.

When it came time to pay our bill, our rapid learning about South Africa continued. Desserts and drinks for the five of us, including second helpings for some, cost less than $20 Canadian. Dining in South Africa was going to be a distinct pleasure!

We headed back towards the ticket office, and the train platforms beyond. Barbara had noticed that there was a printing error on some of our tickets, and so she went back into the ticket office to see if they needed to be reprinted, or would be acceptable as-is.

“Why are you here again?” asked the security guard.

Clearly, everything in Johannesburg was organized around the best way to minimize your chances of being murdered.

After we landed that morning, things hadn’t been quite so tense. We were still on the other side of customs, not in the middle of a public place. All that was on our mind was dealing with the perfunctory entrance interview, and finding Barbara’s Dad. His plane had landed less than an hour before our own.

As we descended an escalator to the main floor of the customs area, we could see the passengers ahead of us peeling off at the bottom to form a long queue, snaking back and forth in the maze-like space for the customs lineup. We scanned the crowd for Dave. Barbara and I spotted him first.

He was actually only a few minutes ahead of us. The girls eagerly waved and Barbara called his name. The time in the lineup seemed to go quickly knowing that we would be reunited on the other side.

After getting many hugs, we gathered our checked bags from the rather huge area with the luggage conveyors. Our main priority was finding the entrance to the Gau train, a newly built rapid transit system that connected to airport to the rest of the city, including the train station.

We found an elevator to take our luggage up to the second floor where the train was, and we got our tickets and waited for the train. When it arrived, we found it was modern and spacious, with large windows to see out during the portions of the trip above ground. We watched the airport whiz by as we left the station.

After a few stops, some police got on board. These were not what we would call regular police back home. Their black bulletproof vests were worn over top of their grey uniforms. If their uniforms had been camouflaged, they wouldn’t have looked out of place on a military base. All they were missing were the automatic rifles.

Once we reached our destination, we had a bit of a challenge making it from the Gua train station to the regular train station. The buildings are adjacent, but not connected. After some scouting and asking for directions, we made it across the street and into the other station. That’s when I was told to put the camera away.

The queue for boarding the train was among the most disorganized experiences of the entire trip.

Once we had been assured that our tickets were fine as-is, we made our way to the general area where it seemed people would be boarding our train. But it was full of people waiting for all kinds of trains.

To make matters worse, there were garbled announcements every so often over the loudspeakers, but what little we could make out seemed to contradict other information on signs, or being filtered through the crowd from the few staff people in the room.

Eventually, our queue was permitted to enter the actual train platforms. We were confronted with a long flight of stairs to navigate with our cases. Our train was at the platform waiting for us, but then we faced our next challenge: which rooms were our rooms. None of the staff we had encountered had been able to tell us, and our tickets didn’t say.

It turned out that the listing of passengers and rooms was posted on the wall next to the train. I examined the list, but noticed it was for a train earlier that week. Our names were not on it. The list for our train was to be published only shortly before we were due to leave!

As we milled about wondering if we should move our luggage onto the train yet, a staff person eventually appeared carrying a sheet of paper and some tape. He replaced the old list, and I crowded around the page with several other passengers. We had compartments 5D and 5E.

They were quite comfortable, with long bench seats that converted to beds, and a small table near the window. We got a good view of the countryside as we left the city behind. Later, we could see the sunset out of our side of the train.

There was a dining car on the train, but we were surprised to find that the staff came around and presented us with the menu in our rooms, and asked what we would like. They would serve it to us in our rooms if we preferred, and we certainly did.

Later, Dave and the girls enjoyed a few card games. Barbara went to bed early. The girls joined her later. Dave and I were in the other compartment. The rhythm of the train clattering over the tracks was hypnotic and I was very tired after not sleeping on the overnight flight.

But I had noticed something on the menu that had me irresistibly intrigued: hamburgers! Would a former British colony succeed in doing justice to this simple dish, where the South Americans had generally failed? I was to learn that English heritage is not the secret to burger success, and in fact I came to appreciate that burgers are a unique North American delicacy.

Nonetheless, it was the best burger I had had since before we left Canada.

Locations

Johannesburg

Transportation

Gau Train from the airport to the train station
Shosholoza Meyl Train to Port Elizabeth

Spending

$60.50 for five Gau train tickets (including a non-refundable charge for the pass cards)
$210 for overnight train tickets to Port Elizabeth
$4.18 for onion rings and green cream soda at the train station
$4.40 for four pops on the train
$20.90 for bedding service on the train
$8.80 for dinner and drinks on the train (cost was shared with Dave)
$6.60 for the burger, fries and a drink