Posted on 31 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
South Africa’s main coal terminal, which is expanding to become the world’s largest, will assign capacity to junior miners in line with the upgrade of the railway lines leading to the port, Reuters reports. “Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) is due to expand its export capacity to 91 million tonnes by the end of this [...] [...more]
Posted on 20 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
On Sunday 26 September, Friends of the Rail will be running a special steam train from Hermanstad (Pretoria) to Cullinan and return. This is to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first public train to run in South Africa (Durban to the Point in 1860). The September run, double-headed by class 19D and 24, will [...] [...more]
Posted on 13 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
From The Cape Times, 12 August: “Thousands of Shosholoza Meyl passengers were left stranded as long-distance train services had to be halted due to a financial dispute between the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and Transnet. Prasa claims Transnet reneged on providing services to it following the sale last year of Shosholoza Meyl [...] [...more]
Posted on 10 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Acting Metrorail regional manager (Gauteng) Douglas Chauke, announcing the resumption of commuter service between Johannesburg and Randfontein, said the damage caused to a train on 4 June amounted to R7 million. This figure did not include damage to the station, the theft of overhead lines and the loss of income due to the subsequent service [...] [...more]
Posted on 02 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
On 22 July, a serious derailment on the 861km Sishen-Saldanha heavy-haul iron ore line caused traffic disruption expected to last at least five days. At kilometre 203 between Loop 4 (Knersvlak, near Vredendal) and Loop 5 (Saggiesberg), 107 fully laden wagons came off the rails. A number fell off a bridge. Three locomotives (2 x [...] [...more]
Posted on 25 July 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
From Mining Weekly Online : “The external concept study that is expected to shed fresh light on the expansion of Sishen-Saldanha rail capacity beyond 60 million tons a year (mta) should be available soon, Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) CEO Chris Griffith said after KIO announced record operational and financial results on Thursday [22 July], as [...] [...more]
Posted on 19 July 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Talking to the press during June, acting Transnet CEO Chris Wells conceded that Transnet Freight Rail was largely to blame for the disappointing performance of the Richards Bay export coal line. This was after taking into account the downturn in the coal export market related to the recession, as well as seasonal problems in output [...] [...more]
Posted on 12 July 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
In an interview with Sunday Times columnist Chris Barron, Rohan Vos spelled out some of the problems Rovos Rail has faced in the past 12 months. First there was the global recession – and 90% of his customers come from overseas: “We’re totally dependent on incoming tourism. Every political event affects that.” Rovos trains ran [...] [...more]
Posted on 02 July 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a loan of up to $US400 million to help Transnet fund some of the rail projects in its five-year, R93.4 billion capital investment programme. The group plans to spend a record R22.8 billion in 2010-11, most of it on rail-related infrastructure. The AfDB loan adds to some R4 [...] [...more]
Posted on 28 June 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Editorial in Business Day: “To change the world, one needs to be bold. And in the world of transport, big, brash projects such as the Gautrain are the catalysts needed to change the way people travel. It is the kind of project that may cost billions now but in a decade or two will have [...] [...more]
Posted on 18 June 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) achieved a better-than-expected increase in revenues in the last financial year, despite a decline in export coal traffic and general freight. Revenues rose by 11.8% to R20.6 billion in the year ending 31 March, buoyed by an increased share of the intermodal market and rising bulk volumes in the latter part [...] [...more]
Posted on 14 June 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
When the first scheduled Gautrain set left Sandton station on Tuesday 8 June at 05:24 carrying the first fare-paying customers, it left some people behind. “We had many people queuing to get on the first train, but we could not accommodate them all,” Bombela CEO Jerome Govender told Engineering News Online. “We want to thank [...] [...more]
