‘Private sector must invest in rail’

THE PRIVATE sector has an essential role to play in the upgrading of Africa’s railways. That was the message from Howard Rosen of Railway Working Group in Switzerland at this year’s AfricanRail expo held last week at the Sandton Convention Centre. “The private sector is essential to the improvement of railways,” said Rosen. “But private companies and banks won’t fund this rolling stock unless they understand the system, their returns are secured and they can get their investment back should a stock loss occur.” In November 2001 the Luxembourg Rail Protocol was signed in Cape Town to address these concerns and in 2007 a meeting was held in Luxembourg to ensure the protocol’s goal of establishing a new international framework to facilitate private financing of rolling stock was being met. “The main goal of the protocol is to secure more extensive private sector finance for rolling stock at a lower cost,” said Rosen.