Delivering the keynote at the 25th Africa Rail Conference, South Africa’s Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, emphasised the critical role of rail in enabling sustainable logistics, trade integration, and economic development across the continent. The SADC region’s 40,000 km of rail network was highlighted as a strategic asset for shifting freight from road to rail in alignment with the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Minister Creecy noted the African Union’s resolution recognising South Africa as Africa’s rail manufacturing hub and announced the country’s recent ratification of the Luxembourg Rail Protocol—effective from 1 May 2025. This ratification facilitates access to international financing for rolling stock and supports open access to the rail network.
She outlined South Africa’s ambitious rail reform programme, backed by the 2022 White Paper on National Rail Policy and the 2023 National Freight Logistics Roadmap. These reforms aim to revitalise freight and passenger services, promote private sector participation, and improve infrastructure security and reliability. A new Transport Economic Regulator and the establishment of the Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager (TRIM) are among the key institutional developments.
The Department of Transport, in partnership with the DBSA, is also setting up a Private Sector Participation (PSP) Unit to support Transnet and PRASA in procuring PSP projects. Requests for Information (RFIs) on key freight and port corridors have been issued, with passenger rail RFIs to follow.
On passenger services, PRASA has restored 32 of 40 priority lines following extensive refurbishment after the COVID-19 lockdown, with the Cape Town central line to be fully restored soon. Plans are underway to re-signal commuter lines and return to pre-pandemic passenger volumes of 600 million annually by 2030.
Minister Creecy concluded by affirming the importance of policy-driven investment and collaboration to usher in a new era of rail-led economic growth in Africa.
Go here to read the full keynote address: https://www.gov.za/news/speeches/minister-barbara-creecy-africa-rail-conference-13-may-2025
