New safety permit fees have been published for South African rail operators with application charges ranging from R4 387 to R74 204 depending on the size and nature of operations.
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy published the fee determination for the 2026/27 financial year in the Government Gazette on September 8.
The charges apply to train, network and station operators transporting mining commodities, dangerous goods, general freight or passengers.
Large operators transporting at least 500 000 tonnes of general freight or 50 000 tonnes of dangerous goods will pay a non-refundable application fee of R74 204.
For operators transporting between 200 000 and 500 000 tonnes of general freight, application fees range from R4 392 for general freight and passenger operations to R25 519 for dangerous goods.
Operators moving less than 200 000 tonnes of general freight will pay application fees ranging from R4 387 to R10 196.
Activity and safety determine annual fee
Existing operators’ annual permit fees will be calculated according to their operational activity and safety record.
The formula consists of a base cost of R19 801.98, a safety component and an activity component based on the distance travelled and the volume of freight or dangerous goods transported.
The activity charge has been set at R1.8649 per kilometre and R0.4260 per unitised passenger or tonne equivalent.
Safety charges will be calculated at R3 333.05 per weighted occurrence. Incidents are assigned different weightings according to their severity with categories including collisions, derailments, dangerous goods spills, freight fires, infrastructure theft and vandalism.
The regulator will use verified occurrence and activity data from the 2024/25 reporting period to calculate the charges.
The 28 operators migrating to the new fee model over three years include Transnet’s Rail Infrastructure Manager, Traxtion Sheltam, as well as Richards Bay Coal Terminal, Grindrod Terminals Richards Bay, Saflog, Eswatini Railways and several mining companies.
The determination states that the fees cover the period from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027.
