Rail system can’t just chug along

The chief executive of the African Rail Industry Association (Aria), Mesela Nhlapo, was a bit naïve this week when, in a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, she described South Africa’s railway network as “the backbone of the SA logistics and transport value chain”.

No, it is not. For more than three decades – from before the ANC took over as a government – our rail system has systematically been run down.

Once it was the envy of Africa – and most developing countries.

Now, both mainline and commuter rail networks are barely shuffling along, beset by ageing equipment and basic infrastructure which is being looted and vandalised around the clock.

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The rot began in the late ’80s, when the then National Party mandarins saw the majority rule writing on the wall – and when the immensely powerful civil engineering and road transport lobbies began pushing for widespread expansion of road infrastructure.

This was to benefit truckers, not ordinary motorists, although the construction industry grew fat and happy on the ever-rising income from toll roads.

Our national roads are now cluttered with thousands of huge trucks every day, while the more cost efficient rail lines are nearly empty – when they haven’t been ripped up by metal thieves.

Yet, Nhlapo was spot-on about the importance of rail and that our network can, if properly revitalised and run, drive a resurgence of the rail system on the entire African continent.

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It is to be welcomed, as Nhlapo said, that Ramaphosa has introduced “third-party access” to the rail network.

This, we hope, means that private operators and suppliers will replace the system of crony looters which has dominated railway administration under the ANC.

Trains can be run at a profit, for commuters and logistics movement, and the network can be turned into an asset from the liability it currently is.

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