Intra-trade growth within
the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) is simply not possible
if road-to-rail migration does
not become a reality in the
region. To ensure efficiency,
the modal migration strategy
has to be regionally aligned.
This was the main
message from a group of
high-level panellists at a press
conference held ahead of the
Southern African Railway
Association’s (Sara) fourth
annual conference being held
in Johannesburg next week.
“We need to work jointly as
a region on this, collaborating
on policies, standards,
maintenance, financing
strategies, training and
equipment procurement to
ensure we give our global and
regional customers that level
of comfort,” said Cleopatra
Shiceka, general manager
in the chief executive’s office
at Transnet Freight Rail
(TFR). She noted that the
“bigger picture” of road-torail
migration needed to
be kept in mind and that
the strategies needed to be
aligned with other modes
of transport to create what
she termed a “holistic
intermodal” system. “Let’s look
at the commodities that need
to be transported in the region
and decide which goods are
best suited to which form of
transport. For example, rail is
more suitable for the transport
of long-haul bulk commodities
and trucks for short-haul
routes,” she said.
Pointing to the myriad
challenges facing rail – from
outdated equipment to
insufficient capacity – Shiceka
said: “Sara needs to ensure
governments talk to each other
and obtain their buy-in on the
key strategic objectives to move
regional rail forward.”
Specific areas requiring
assistance from government
include investment in
infrastructure through creation
of rail funds, removal of tariff
controls, streamlining and
simplification of customs and
duty exemption/concessions
on imported railway
equipment and materials for
recapitalisation purposes.
“Governments also need to
level the playing field between
road and rail through the
development of equitable
land transport policies,” said
Shiceka.
She said the way forward for
Sara would be to develop strong
railway learning institutions,
secure viable financing
mechanisms and manage
the migration towards more
contemporary technologies.
INSERT & CAPTION
Sara needs to ensure
governments talk to
each other.
– Cleopatra Shiceka
