TFR dashes hopes of rail rate equalisation

Transnet Freight Rail CEO Siyabonga Gama last week ruled out the possibility of equalising rail rates on the Port Elizabeth and City Deep corridor with Durban-City Deep as a stop-gap measure during upgrades at the Port of Durban. “The issue for me is that PE is 1300 km from Johannesburg and the cost of running anything from PE to Johannesburg is higher than running from Durban which is 680km. “It’s almost double the distance and therefore doesn’t make sense to me. We would be in the red because for every container moved from PE we would lose a lot of money. “If the port was prepared to subsidise the initiative, TFR would be prepared to reconsider,” he told FTW.