MBABANE – A key new
southern African rail link
connecting Johannesburg
with Maputo is on schedule
and completion is not likely
to be affected by a fivemonth
extension of a route
feasibility study. Partnering
with Transnet Freight Rail
on the project, Swaziland
Railway has refuted
recent media stories that
reported delays in the line’s
construction.
“The feasibility stage
was expected to have been
completed by March 2014,
but owing to detailed
ongoing specialty studies and
a prolonged very important
stakeholder engagement
process, this deadline was
moved to August 2014,”
Sive Manana, corporate
communications director
for Swaziland Railway, told
FTW.
Several SA media outlets
quoted Swaziland Railway
CEO Stephenson Ngubane
as saying the delay in the
feasibility would push back
the construction start and
make the 2017 completion
date problematic.
Sensitive talks with
property owners who will
be displaced by the line have
caused the delay.
Dubbed the Lothair Line,
the rail link will connect the
current Western terminus
of Swaziland Railway that is
close to the border with SA
with the Mpumalanga region
rail head of TFR in Lothair.
Swazi Rail slams Lothair rumours
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