MetroBlitz was an experimental high speed commuter train service between Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

 station and Johannesburg Park Station

Johannesburg Park Station

Johannesburg Park Station is the central railway station in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, and the largest railway station in Africa. It is located between the Central Business District and Braamfontein, in the block bordered by Rissik, Wolmarans, Wanderers and Noord Streets...

 via Germiston, operated by the South African Transport Services (SATS). It started service on 16 January 1984.

History

In July 1979 a non-stop commuter service known as the Jacaranda Express (Afrikaans: Jakarandasnel) was introduced between Pretoria station and Johannesburg Park station. The Jacaranda Express initially had a journey time of 65 minutes for the 69.4 km route. After being in service for 9 months the train was lengthened to 8 coaches from the original 6. The journey time was also decreased to 58 minutes.

Inauguration

In 1983 tests were undertaken to introduce a higher speed service, culminating in the launch of the MetroBlitz, which took place on 11 January 1984. It ran daily from 16 January 1984, boasting a morning journey time of 42 minutes from Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

 to Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

and an afternoon return journey time of 44 minutes.
The MetroBlitz train reached speeds of up to 160km/h en route.

Demise

Poor cost recovery and disruption to other slower train services are cited as the reasons for the demise of the MetroBlitz.