General freight can expect fireworks

JOY ORLEK SPOORNET HAS big plans for general freight business on the Durban – Gauteng route. “You can expect fireworks there,” CEO Siyabonga Gama told FTW last week. The rail utility is keen to see the current five daily trains increased to 11. “Last year we ran one train a day. We now have five trains between Durban and City Deep and transit time is currently 17 hours on average. “This is down from 22 hours and our aspiration is to move that to 13-14 hours in the next year “We are upping the ante, but to achieve our goal we need more wagons and locomotives.” Once that is addressed Gama believes that rail will begin making inroads into road business.