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
