Rail a strong component of Swazi Transport Master Plan

Development and upgrading of rail infrastructure forms the backbone of the Swaziland government’s newly completed Transport Master Plan which will guide the country’s transport management policies over the next 20 years. “Investment in rail is an area in which a lot needs to happen as we have great ambitions for railway development in Swaziland and in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region,” Swaziland public works and transport minister, Lindiwe Dlamini, told FTW recently. “This is government’s most important infrastructure project at the moment.” She said that government was working with Swaziland Railways to commercialise the railways and reduce transit and turnaround times to make the landlocked country’s intra-Africa trade more competitive. “We are also investing millions to upgrade old railway lines so we can take a large part of the freight traffic off the heavily congested roads,” said Dlamini, adding that the old railway line near the new King Mswati 111 Airport would also be upgraded. The146-kilometre single-line South Africa-Swaziland rail link is a prime example of intraregional cooperation centred on the development of symbiotic rail corridors, said Dlamini, noting that the government had completed a Level 3 feasibility analysis on the project, with “several millions” committed for further feasibility studies in 2014/15. Transnet and Swaziland Railways confirmed in 2012 that they planned to move ahead with the line by 2017, with an initial annual capacity of 15 million tonnes. CAPTION A Level 3 feasibility analysis on the South-Africa Swaziland rail link has been completed and construction has been pushed to 2017. Photo: Swaziland Railways