TRANSPORT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Vital Lifeline for Emerging Economy

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 19 2002 (IPS) - Rail transport in Southern Africa has a history of glamour, but today travel glamour is associated with air transport and new auto highways.

But the region’s rail network is a vital lifeline for commerce and commuters, and while the public may take trains for granted, governments are working with private railway companies to improve infrastructure in every country of the 14 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

“Government should continue to play a regulatory role, and refrain from direct intervention in the transportation market,” says Swaziland’s Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini.

Swaziland Railway is a private corporation on which the country’s goods are exported, and imports from food to fuel are brought into the landlocked kingdom.

The South African government is making national transportation policy more advantageous to rail, at a time when a new study shows rail transport is holding steady against goods carried by road.

Transport Minister Dullah Omar told a recent meeting of the National Council of Provinces, “an efficient and well-managed national rail network is a potentially cheaper and more environmentally sustainable mode of freight transportation than road haulage”.

It also, he said “relieves road congestion when passengers ride trains instead of buses and private cars.”

A study released by the Rand Afrikaans University’s transport economics faculty found that the quantity of goods carried by rail has remained consistent for 15 years, weighing in at about 556 million tonnes per annum.

Since 1986, rail has transported 27 percent of South African goods, with the remainder taken by road. An expanding national economy has brought increased demand for rail to the haul the type of high-mass, low-value commodities most cost effectively transported by train, such as coal, building supplies and grain.

All the region’s nations have rail companies either publicly or privately owned. But South Africa, the sub-continent’s economic powerhouse that has the most advanced industrial infrastructure, is assuming a greater role in technical support.

Spoornet, South Africa’s railway corporation, has ambitions to be Africa’s premier rail infrastructure service provider. Toward that end this year, Spoornet has acquired major contracts in Mozambique and Zambia.

Beating three contenders, Spoornet has won a 25-year concession to operate and manage Zambia Railways, beginning June 1.

“We will in effect run Zambia’s railway operation, and manage all assets,” says a Spoornet official. “Given the 25-year time frame, we are looking at long-term goals in freight and passenger delivery. Zambia is a landlocked country that is dependant on rail transportation, especially for its mining sector. Much of the rail infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate. But government is committed to investing in rail rehabilitation as a foundation for economic development.”

Initial details about the deal indicate Spoornet has some innovations planned to facilitate the movement of copper, Zambia’s chief export. A freight and passenger service between Livingstone and Kitwe in the copper mining district is in the works.

Spoornet is also taking over the rail line from the Mozambique capital Maputo to the South African border town Komatipoort, a key rail link. The rehabilitated line will include new “rolling stock” – the industry name for freight and passenger cars – aimed at enticing South African coal companies to use Maputo, whose 20 km-long harbour is being dredged to accommodate larger ships, with an ultimate goal of handling 4.6 million tonnes of cargo annually.

SADC is working on an integrated regional rail policy that will make uniformed rail track sizes and equipment, so a train may travel uninterrupted throughout the sub-continent. An expanded rail line network will also permit goods to circumvent areas of conflict when these flare up, avoiding costly delays and increasing business efficiency.

While freight haulage is a key source of income for railway companies – Swaziland Railways is almost entirely dependant on freight business – millions of Africans rely on rail for commuting and long-distance travel.

South Africa’s commuter rail system in what is now the Gauteng Province, incorporating Johannesburg and Pretoria, originated during apartheid days as a way to bring black workers from segregated settlements on city outskirts to jobs, and then return those workers home to enforce segregation. Today, these lines are undergoing rehabilitation, with a high speed “bullet train” in the planning stages.

South Africa’s Blue Line exemplifies the draw of rail for tourists. The Blue Line’s luxury cars wend their way through scenic stretches of the Cape Coast, while other tourist trains bring visitors to game parks.

“We have a special feature for the tourist trains that come to Swaziland’s Mkhaya Game Reserve. Passengers pull a cord, and the engineer will stop the train so they can take photographs,” says Gideon Mahlalela, the energetic Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Swaziland Railways, who is also president of the Southern Africa Railway Association (SARA).

Mahlalela plans to tap into traffic between the Mozambique capital Maputo and Swaziland by negotiating for direct rail service linking the countries.

“This will bring rail passenger service to where it was before the Mozambique civil war,” says a railway official. “Throughout the region, better, faster, cleaner trains will attract new riders.”

Financially assisting Mozambique rehabilitate its rail line are such donor nations as Australia and the European Union (EU), while Japan has given Swaziland Railway a low-interest loan to upgrade its main facility.

Yvonne Mbeki, a Johannesburg commuter, notes, “Rail is really the people’s transportation. It is important that it is not neglected, for this will bring hardship to lots of people who depend on trains. I personally look forward to this bullet train that travels at 200 kilometres per hour!”