TFR commits to reducing ‘incidents’

Transnet Freight Rail is working hard to decrease failures and incidents on its network as it continues to pump money into refurbishing rail. Speaking at the annual AfricaRail 2011 conference in Sandton last week, TFR’s rail network general manager Caesar Mtwetwa admitted that the rail operator had recorded some 75 000 failures a year on a wide front. He said these failures included signalling, rail track and telecommunications problems. “We are focused and committed to optimising our current capacity and improving our efficiency. The investment programme we have embarked on will see this number of incidents reduced significantly.” He said TFR was putting its money where its mouth is by ensuring not just the availability of rolling stock but also the reliability.