Residents and train commuters are struggling to use the Crawford train station subway because it is frequently flooded.
There is ankle-deep water in the foul-smelling, graffiti-covered tunnel, which links First Avenue, Rondebosch East, to Clive Road, Crawford.
Resident Anne Williams takes the long way round to catch a train rather than endure the subway.
“It’s an inconvenience walking through the subway; it’s unhygienic and your feet get wet,” she said.
Tahira Toefy’s daughter’s preschool lies on the other side of the subway. “It is disgusting and had been waterlogged since late last year,” she said.
Ward councillor Mark Kleinschmidt said he had reported the recurring problem to Metrorail officials.
“They have achieved some success at Wetton and Crawford stations, though the flooding seems to persist intermittently.”
Metrorail’s Riana Scott said their facilities division had recorded an “unprecedented increase in pilfering and vandalism”.
She added: “Pumps cables and lights are stolen on a regular basis.”
Metrorail was working with law enforcement agencies to catch the perpetrators, she said.
Lansdowne police spokesman Sergeant Nkululeko Mnyaka said the subway was a crime hot spot and that 10 robberies had been reported there in the past two years.
