SHOSHOLOZA MEYL BLAMES TFR
Posted on 12 February 2010
A succession of really serious delays to long-distance passenger trains recently – one involving a 10-hour late arrival – have been blamed by Shosholoza Meyl on Transnet Freight Rail (TFR). The situation mirrors a long-standing headache in the USA, where government-owned passenger train delays are routinely attributed to the separately-owned freight lines over which they run. The difference in South Africa is that the same government owns and runs both passenger and freight services, whereas in America most of the tracks are owned and operated by private companies.
The local press has not helped anyone comprehend the complicated relationship recently contrived between the now separate state departments by sensational reporting claiming huge delays to “luxury” trains when in fact the early February delays affected trains that fell into anything but the luxury category. As a TFR spokesman explained, the 10-hour delay affected an “economy class” service from Cape Town to Durban, “economy” being the current euphemism for what used to be called third class. Our own investigations suggest that a pantograph tangling in the Free State overhead started this particular train’s misfortunes. Many hours passed before diesel locomotives could be sourced to rescue the stranded express.
The tourist industry is particularly worried about the problems with Shosholoza Meyl’s Premier Classe, which promises five-star service. Thornybush CEO Nic Griffin was quoted saying that while service on board is “impeccable”, delays attributed to TFR would ultimately lead to the failure of the facility: “The parastatal appears to be bogged down by poor maintenance and security, lack of infrastructure investment and weak management. We have chartered both the Premiere Classe and the Blue Train in the last four months at huge expense, but on each occasion the train has run between three and nine hours late. The overseas market simply will not support this poor service. The worst part is that nobody apologises or seems to care.”
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