Ambitious – but will they ever be realised?

Cabinet has approved a white paper aimed at developing South Africa’s critical rail infrastructure. The approval of the white paper comes as Transnet made an R8 billion loss in the 2020/21 financial year. The new policy details the department’s plans to break away from past strategies by introducing new plans aimed at auctioning the development of the South African railway network.

It also creates space for private sector investment and effective economic regulation that gives equal access to both primary and secondary networks.

Despite the industry being well established, it has not had a well-coordinated National Rail Policy and as a result the efficiency of local railways has been impacted by challenges over the years.

The National Rail Policy intends to place rail on a sound footing to play a meaningful role as a backbone of a seamlessly integrated transport value chain able to make a meaningful contribution to the economy.

The key thrusts of the White Paper on National Rail Policy are enabling investment in the railways, with specific attention to the exploitation of rail’s genetic technologies to achieve renaissance in the following market spaces: Heavy haul, heavy intermodal, which includes double-stacked containers, contemporary urban and regional rapid transit, as well as higher-speed of 160 to 200km/h and high speed up to 300km/h.

In terms of passenger rail networks, the new policy would allow the private sector to run services through concessions where the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) had capacity challenges.

Government advisors believe that the success of the Gautrain rollout can be replicated outside of the Gauteng province. In total, seven regions have been mooted for a high-speed rail network, three of which would rely on the existing infrastructure. They include Cape Town to the Winelands, Gauteng to Bloemfontein, The eThekwini conurbation, Gauteng to Polokwane, The Durban to Pietermaritzburg corridor, Gauteng to Rustenburg and Umtata to Port Elizabeth via East London.

According to the White Paper, it is now imperative that ‘large cities and urban conurbation’ are connected by regional rapid transit hubs. The goal is to increase the options available to commuters, while slashing long and laborious journey times.