South African teens build solar train as power cuts haunt commuters

Students of Soshanguve technical high school cleaning a solar-powered train built by them. Photos: Phill Magakoe/AFP

For years, students in a South African township have seen their parents struggle to use trains for daily commutes, the railways frequently hobbled by power outages and cable thefts.

To respond to the crisis, a group of 20 teenagers invented South Africa's first fully solar-powered train.Photovoltaic panels fitted to the roof, the angular blue-and-white test train moves on an 18m-long (60ft) test track in Soshanguve township north of the capital Pretoria.