South Africa’s state-owned logistics utility has reported that disruptive weather conditions in Mpumalanga and Limpopo have adversely affected the operations of Transnet Freight Rail (TRF) along the North-East Corridor (NEC).
TFR said: “Heavy, abnormal rains damaged the rail infrastructure across the Corridor’s major commodity pathways, resulting in severe disruption to the train service.”
It had led to the suspension of service across the NEC, Transnet said.
“The infrastructure impact of the floods has unfortunately caused washaways - an occurrence where flood water overwhelms the drainage systems and washes away the ballast that supports the railway sleepers, causing unsafe conditions for the safe running of trains.
“Railway sections that are heavily impacted by the adverse weather conditions are the lines between Nelspruit-Kaapmuiden and Komatipoort, as well as the Mhlume line to eSwatini, adversely hindering major commodity flows such as magnetite, chrome, ferrochrome and rock phosphate.
“Branch line operations at Lydenburg (Mashishing) and Belfast are also severely impacted, affecting the movement of magnetite, chrome, ferrochrome, rock phosphate and coal.”
TFR added that cross-border operations to the Port of Maputo and TCM Matola terminal were also adversely impacted and at a standstill due to flooding of various parts of the network, affecting the movement of export magnetite, rock phosphate, chrome and ferrochrome.
“With continuous rains, there have been more reports of washaways on the Hoedspruit- Groenbult-Messina and Pienaarsriver lines.
“This effectively means that over 90% of the North-East Corridor network is completely shut.
“Due to the severity of the floods and for safety reasons, TFR has resolved to suspend its services on the corridor until a full safety assessment is undertaken and the line is certified as safe for normal running of train traffic.
“Employee safety is a primary concern.
“Full resumption of services will only occur once the lines are declared safe. TFR continues to maintain regular contact to update its customers and stakeholders on the status of the train service and ongoing recovery efforts.”
