Swazi Rail slams Lothair rumours

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.