An Eastern Cape railway line that has been dormant for a period of five years and was closed by the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) in 2018 will be formally relaunched by Transnet on October 7.
Following a soft reopening of the line in early July, an initial statement by the state-owned logistics company said Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) had decided to reopen the line following discussions with the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber.
TNPA said the Cookhouse-Blaney line had been recommissioned following extensive rehabilitation work.
A statement issued in conjunction with the Chamber said: “The line has been unused for the last five years for freight, and in 2018 it was closed by the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) due to various maintenance concerns.
This railway line, which is over 200 km long, traverses three local municipalities, two district municipalities, and a metro municipality - namely the Blue Crane, Raymond Mhlaba, Amahlathi local municipalities; Amathole and Sarah Baartman District Municipalities; and Buffalo City Metro Municipality.
The rehabilitation work that has been carried out has been motivated by the renewed interest shown by the business community to transport certain commodities by rail between Port Elizabeth and East London. It also forms part of Transnet’s strategy to develop the region.
Due to interest in the use of the line, a significant R26 million has been used to refurbish the rail infrastructure to a carrying capacity of 18 tons/axle. This infrastructure has a volume projection of 300 000 tons per annum. It is envisaged that it will provide an important inbound transit on rail between the East London IDZ and the Coega IDZ, as well as create an escape route for the Port Elizabeth main line in case of any incident between Cookhouse and De Aar.
The opening of the branch line will contribute to much-needed increased volumes and revenue, and enable production, trade and rural access to markets, thus enhancing regional and global connectivity and integration. This initiative has created short-term employment for communities through which the line traverses. To date, 100 direct jobs have been created during the process of rehabilitation.
A loaded container test train successfully ran on the newly refurbished branch line on June 30. The other potential traffic for the Cookhouse-Blaney line is:
• Beer and fast-moving consumer goods from Port Elizabeth to East London and region
• Cement from Port Elizabeth
• Automotive components to and from East London
• Automotives
Objectives of the Cookhouse-Blaney line:
• To contribute to lowering the cost of doing business in the Eastern Cape Province.
• To enable economic growth and ensure security of supply through the provision of appropriate rail infrastructure in a cost-effective and efficient manner
• To provide an enabling environment for emerging miners in the province.
• To stimulate the agriculture sector
• To focus on densification of freight on the rail line
• To create a competitive link to the rest of the country
Its impact on the Eastern Cape Province:
• Reduction of the operational costs in the transport system;
• Migrating rail-friendly cargo from road to rail, thus reducing national and provincial road maintenance costs
• Resuscitation of the economic and social activities in the small, marginalised towns
• Economic development and growth in the agriculture, mining and transport sectors
Next Thursday’s launch starts at 9am and will be held at the Port of East London’s Multi-Purpose Terminal.
For enquiries, email: amanda.nkosi@transnet.net
