Transit cargo helps boost Swazi rail

MBABANE – With crushed stone and coal the only minerals currently produced in Swaziland, the recent closure of Salgaocar Swaziland, an iron ore mining firm that the Swazi media predicted would revitalise Swaziland’s mining sector, has also affected the country’s rail transport sector Swaziland Railway’s bottom line in 2015 will reflect the mine’s closure. Maloma Collier is Swaziland Railway’s major local coal client, which from the collier’s own siding at Nsoko exports anthracite to Richard’s Bay. However, transit cargo has become the principal source of profitability for the company’s 301km of line, particularly freight of SA origin moving along the 190km north-south line from Mananga border post to Golela border post, from where freight is again in SA territory for the 215km trip to Richard’s Bay or the 388km trip further south to Durban. Magnetite from Phalaborwa is a major mining product moved by Swaziland Railway. Transit cargo, some of which originates in inland countries like DRC and Zambia, will be boosted significantly by the opening of a new railway line from Transnet Freight Rail’s Mpumalanga railhead at Lothair SA to Sidvokodvo. The 146km link is now two years away from completion, with work proceeding on schedule, according to Swaziland Railway CEO Stephenson Ngubane. Transnet Freight Rail expects to dedicate the Lothair link to mineral transport, especially coal. Swaziland’s transportation sector was one of the few portions of the small country’s national economy last year that recorded positive growth. The good performance of Swaziland Railway contributed. According to the Central Bank of Swaziland, the transport sector grew by 3.5%. This sufficient if not spectacular increase contrasted with all other sectors of the economy, which contracted last year. To meet current needs and in anticipation of a larger locomotive and rolling stock stable required for the new line, Ngubane said: “We have taken delivery of four new diesel-electric locomotives and are taking delivery of 75 freight wagons.” INSERT & CAPTION Swaziland’s transportation sector was one of the few portions of the national economy last year that recorded positive growth. – Stephenson Ngubane