Transnet’s long term strategy to move freight from road to rail is gaining momentum with planned capital expenditure on rail set at R80.9 billion over the next five years.
The expenditure is a fraction of the R467 billion capital expenditure on rail and an additional R167 billion on rail infrastructure earmarked for the rail network out of Transnet’s massive R759 billion 30-year capital investment plan. Speaking at the recent African Ports and Rail Evolution Forum in Durban last week, Transnet Freight Rail principal track engineer, Jonathan, Duvel highlighted some of the parastatal’s projects which aim to connect port hubs domestically and regionally to meet the demand for freight movement.
“In the past financial year we closed with a growth rate of 3.3% compared to the prior year – and that is tuned in, to some extent, to the subSaharan African growth rate,” he said. Duvel added that Transnet freight rail had moved 226.3 million tonnes of freight in 2017/18 and generated R43.7 billion in revenue, of which around 5%, or R2.1 billion, was attributed to cross-border revenue. He said planned growth was 6.6% or 241.2 million tonnes for the 2018/19 financial year. Duvel highlighted four of the strategic integrated projects to which the parastatal had committed R340 billion over the 30-year development period.
However, he added that Transnet International Holdings was also focusing on developing regional rail lines to fast-growing African regions and the Middle East which included work on existing rail lines in Ghana, Nigeria,Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. He said the first major domestic project aimed to increase rail capacity for domestic and export coal to shift cargo from road to rail using 200 wagon trains, of which phase one from Lephalale to Ogies had been completed and phase two from Ogies to Richards Bay was nearing completion.
The Gauteng/Durban system will include new rail terminals at Tambo Springs, the extension of yards and terminals at Bayhead and Kings Rest, the proposed Cato Ridge bypass and the ultimate conversion of the line to 25kV AC. Duvel said work on phase one of the Manganese System, between Hotazel, Kimberley and De Aar in the Northern Cape to Ngqura had also just been competed. “We have got capacity up to just under six million tonnes per annum (5.5 million) and aim to get to get it to 16 million tonnes in the longterm plan,” Duvel said.
The iron ore system project from Sishen to Saldhana would incorporate the use of the world’s longest 342- wagon trains and include new yard lines, the electrification of tippler link lines, loop extensions and an increased power supply. Duvel said the North Eastern system incorporating Musina, Komatipoort and Richards Bay would be developed with new loop extensions, partial line doubling, yard extensions and new consolidation yards to expand mining and improve regional SADC integration and export capacity for the ports of Maputo and Richards Bay.
The Gauteng/Cape Town system would be developed to strengthen regional logistics and improve access to Cape Town Port, while linking the main industrial hubs to shift traffic from road to rail. The development will include partial line doubling, loop yard extensions and an ultimate conversion to 25 kv AC, raising capacity to 19 million tonnes per annum with 75 wagon container trains.
Duvel added that Transnet Freight Rail had plans to incorporate “cooltrain” reefers to provide cold chain services to fruit exporters, while it was also developing an ultrasonic broken rail detector on the iron ore system.
