Swazi rail transit business on track

The Southern African Railways Association (Sara), whose vice president is Swaziland Railway CEO Stephenson Ngubane, has prioritised the facilitation of cross-border cargo moving by rail. Transit business this year is on track to replicate last year’s volumes, he said. Ngubane, who was elected Sara’s VP in June 2014, said crossborder rail traffic was the bread and butter of the organisation. The association is interested in how all the corridors perform. The common benchmark for every corridor is that every interchangeable, which is where traffic is handed over from one country’s rail line to another rail line, must be done in two hours. The second common benchmark is transit time. Each train must cover 500 kilometres per day in a corridor. This is the target that must be met. Of course, this depends on length. One of the shortest corridors is Matsapha to Maputo, which is 225 kilometres,” Ngubane said. The attainment of the two main benchmarks will be rail’s contribution to moving cargo from country to country and to southern Africa’s ports expeditiously and reliably, Sara believes. INSERT & CAPTION The common benchmark for every corridor is that every interchangeable must be done in two hours. – Stephenson Ngubane