Urgent action is needed to fix SA’s crumbling rail network
Loading player...
GUEST – Mesela Nhlapo – CEO, African Rail Industry Association
South Africa’s 21 000km rail network used to be a matter of national pride, accounting for some 80% of Africa’s total network. This massively over-specced network needs to be pruned to no more than 5 500km and operated with the kind of financing and efficiency that the private sector, operating alongside Transnet, can bring, according to the Africa Rail Industry Association (Aria).
Decades of poor management, underinvestment and theft has transformed this once great national asset into a national crisis, chopping 2% off annual GDP and another 4% in missed opportunities, according to Stellenbosch University logistics professor Jan Havenga. The 21 000km rail network is the product of a series of mistakes going back 165 years, including selecting the wrong gauge for optimal efficiency and repeated violations of political promises to run the network on business rather than political principles.
South Africa’s 21 000km rail network used to be a matter of national pride, accounting for some 80% of Africa’s total network. This massively over-specced network needs to be pruned to no more than 5 500km and operated with the kind of financing and efficiency that the private sector, operating alongside Transnet, can bring, according to the Africa Rail Industry Association (Aria).
Decades of poor management, underinvestment and theft has transformed this once great national asset into a national crisis, chopping 2% off annual GDP and another 4% in missed opportunities, according to Stellenbosch University logistics professor Jan Havenga. The 21 000km rail network is the product of a series of mistakes going back 165 years, including selecting the wrong gauge for optimal efficiency and repeated violations of political promises to run the network on business rather than political principles.
