Kaapse Train Times is a free timetable for Cape Town's Metrorail trains that works without a signal. This page explains what it can do, including the parts that aren't obvious. This is an independent app. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by PRASA or Metrorail. It shows published schedules, not live train positions: there is no delay, cancellation or platform information in it. Always allow for Metrorail running differently to its timetable.
Search for the station by name on the home screen, or tap through Lines → your line → your station. The next two departures sit at the top with a countdown that keeps itself up to date.
Search the station you're starting from, then tap “Plan a journey from …” above the results, or tap Plan a journey under the search box. Fill in From and To and tap Show trains. Trips that need a change of trains are worked out for you: you don't have to know which lines connect where.
Tap the star on any station screen. Starred stations sit under Saved at the top of the home screen with their next departures already showing, in both directions.
“obs” finds Observatory, “bell” finds Bellville.
“Kaapstad” finds Cape Town. Apostrophes and hyphens are ignored, so “simons town” finds Simon's Town and “somerset wes” finds Somerset-Wes.
Interchanges like Salt River appear once in the results, with a row for each line so you can go straight to the platform you need.
The Central and Northern lines split into several routes. Picking one of those lines asks which branch you want first, with a diagram of each, or you can view every station on the line.
Stations you've opened are kept on the home screen, in one Recent list with the journeys you've searched, newest first, whichever kind it is. Swipe a card to the left to remove it, or use Clear all to empty the list.
The map pin on a station screen opens that station in Google Maps.
The two soonest departures, each with its time, train number, where it's headed and how long you've got.
A countdown turns green when the train is ten minutes away or less. Anything further off stays grey, so the one you could still catch stands out.
Every departure in order underneath, with the next one marked “Next” and outlined in green.
The direction toggle names real places rather than “inbound/outbound” alone: “← Cape Town” against “Fish Hoek → Simon's Town →”. Your choice is remembered for next time.
Switch between the two schedules at any time. If you're looking at a timetable that isn't today's, the app says so rather than letting you misread it. On a public holiday with its own timetable, a third tab shows that one.
Narrow it to trains that actually call at a particular station (the list then shows arrival times and journey lengths) or to a two-hour window around a time you choose.
Tap any departure for its full stop list with times, how long your trip takes, and whether the train carries on past your destination.
Almost every station pair in the network is reachable within two changes. On Saturdays the Simon's Town shuttle can add a third. The planner searches them all across all four lines.
A connection is only offered if there are at least four minutes between the train arriving and the next one leaving.
A journey with a change is only shown when it genuinely beats waiting for the next direct train. If the direct train wins, that's what you get.
Tap a result for a leg-by-leg timeline in each line's colour: where to board, where to change, how long the wait is and how many stops you ride.
Station names in an itinerary are links: tap one for that station's live departure board and find the next train from where you are.
The star on a results screen saves that journey under Saved on the home screen, alongside your starred stations, and trips you've looked at recently are kept under Recent too, each with its next train. Swipe one to the left to remove it.
The From and To fields stay editable on the results screen, and the swap button reverses the trip.
At the station ticket office before you board: this app doesn't sell tickets, and there's no card machine on the train.
Once today's trains have gone, the next-trains card rolls over to tomorrow's first departures, and uses tomorrow's actual schedule, so on a Friday night you see Saturday times rather than weekday ones.
Metrorail doesn't run on Sundays or public holidays, and the app says so instead of quietly showing times you can't use. South African public holidays are recognised automatically, Monday observances included. When PRASA publishes a timetable for a particular public holiday, the app shows that limited service on the day instead.
On Saturdays most Southern Line trains stop at Fish Hoek, where a shuttle carries on to Simon's Town. Shuttle trains are labelled, and the app tells you where to change in either direction.
A departure at 00:10 is treated as tonight's last train rather than tomorrow morning's first, so late-night countdowns make sense.
Times are South African (SAST) even if your phone is set to another timezone, so a trip planned from abroad still matches the platform clock.
While you're watching a countdown on a station screen, the device won't dim or lock (on phones that support it).
The entire timetable is stored in the app the first time you load it. Underground at Cape Town station or out of airtime, it still works.
Tap Install when the app offers it, or use your browser menu's “Install app” / “Add to Home screen”. It then opens like any other app, without browser chrome.
Apple doesn't allow an install button, so it's manual: tap Share, then “Add to Home Screen”.
When a new version is ready a small Reload prompt appears. Nothing changes underneath you mid-journey until you tap it.
Stations, lines, journey results and itineraries all have shareable web addresses, and a train's stop list has a share button. Send someone the exact train you mean.
Nothing here is live. These are the schedules Metrorail publishes, which is what you'd read off a printed timetable: trains run late, get cancelled, and change platform without any of it showing up in this app.
PRASA's published Metrorail Western Cape timetables.
28 July 2026. PRASA may have revised schedules since.
For anything you can't afford to get wrong (a flight, an exam, a job interview), check with Metrorail directly.
Use the “Report a timetable error” link at the bottom of the home screen, or “Spot an error? Report it” on a station screen. Both open a short form: say what's wrong, and the line, station and direction you were looking at come along with it. Leave an email address only if you'd like a reply.
It's emailed to the person who maintains the app. Timetable corrections are checked against PRASA's published schedule and go into the next data update.
This app shows the published timetable, not what the trains are actually doing today: it has no live feed. PRASA runs an official WhatsApp channel for each line, where they post delays, cancellations and resumptions. Follow the one for your line and the alerts arrive on your phone. Note they mostly post during weekday peaks, roughly 05:30–10:00 and 14:00–19:00.
PRASA runs this channel, but this app has no Malmesbury timetable.
There is no sign-up and no advertising in this app. It keeps an anonymous count of page views: it can tell a screen was opened, never by whom.
Favourites, saved journeys, recent stations and journeys, and your settings (direction, language and theme) are stored on the device and never sent anywhere.
The app loads its own files and nothing else: no third-party scripts, fonts or adverts. The anonymous view count goes to the app's own host, nowhere else. That's enforced by the browser, not just promised.
A problem report, if you fill the form in and tap Send. It carries what you typed, the screen you were on, your email address if you gave one, and the browser identification string your browser sends with every request, which helps work out app problems. Nothing more.
To this app's own server, which emails it on through Resend (an email delivery provider) to the maintainer's inbox. Resend handles it only to deliver that one message. No other service sees it.
The server sees it, as every web server does, and uses it briefly in memory to stop one source flooding the form. It never goes into the report, the email, or any store.
Sets all of this out formally: the detail rather than the summary.
All four Metrorail passenger lines in Cape Town: 102 stations in total.
16 stations · Cape Town ↔ Retreat
32 stations · Cape Town → Bellville / Kapteinsklip / Chris Hani
47 stations · Cape Town → Bellville / Strand / Wellington / Du Toit