Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) hosted an information-sharing session last Friday with prospective buyers of the 16 rail slots it has opened up for sale to private bidders.
The two-hour session was hosted in Kempton Park as well as online. The parastatal earlier announced that a bid submission date of May 31 had been set and that the winning bidders would be announced on June 30.
TFR managing executive for the central and container corridor, Rudzani Ligege, said at a media briefing last Thursday that enabling access to the rail network was the first step in line with the government’s policy direction to liberalise the rail sector.
“We will still remain the rail owner as TFR and we will give rights in terms of the slots available,” Ligege said.
Transnet will remain the network manager of the entire network, responsible for maintenance and track access except where concessions are issued.
He explained that phase one of the process would see the opening up of the following 16 slots on the rail corridor:
· Six slots carrying containers and general cargo between City Deep and Durban
· Should there be slots available to Durban due to low uptake of container slots, opportunity exists to make slots available between Bethlehem and the Durban complex for grain
· Two slots for the automotive sector on the East London Route and eight from Springfontein reserved for general cargo
Ligege said TFR was hoping that buyers from the agricultural sector would be interested in slots to transport grain.
Slots will be made available in an “as is condition” or “voetstoets” condition on the container corridor and East London Route, with access to the ports for the new branch line concessionaires.
Phase two will see the reinstatement of existing unused slots to installed capacity as well as further expansion to support growth in the container corridor, Kroonstad-Bethlehem cluster, and East London Routes, while phase three will focus on opening up low-density industrial networks.
The next step in the current bidding process will see TFR evaluating, consulting, negotiating, contracting and implementing the outcome of the initial bidding process.
