Fixing SA’s rail network must truly become a national imperative

By Justin Chadwick

The decline of the South African freight rail network should be considered a national tragedy. Current estimates are that freight volumes have declined by 30% over the past five years, with Transnet recently announcing that it intends to reduce the freight network even further as it targets more profitable cargo loads.

A well-functioning and well-maintained rail network is essential for economic growth because it offers more cost-effective transport and simplified logistics. Currently, large parts of the rail network are inoperable because of mismanagement and cable theft, as well as a shortage of locomotives and rolling stock. This represents a massive impediment to a number of industries, including citrus.

Without an optimally operating rail system, the vision by the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) of exporting up to 260 million cartons of citrus by 2032, which could sustain 100 000 new jobs and bring in an additional R20 billion in export revenue annually, is under threat.

Around 95% of fruit is currently transported to ports through the use of trucks. Only 3000 containers out of a potential 100 000 were transported by rail to Durban in 2022 as a result of inoperable rail lines. The use of trucks is not only more expensive, but many roads throughout the country are in a poor state, with potholes causing rough transport conditions in which fruit gets damaged. Additional problems with this method of transport include safety risks for drivers, as well as major congestion outside ports and at the Mozambican border.

The current situation is set to worsen due to the expected major increase in trucks travelling from citrus regions to the ports over the next four years. It is projected an additional 750 trucks of fruit per week will be added to roads in the Northern regions by 2027, 450 trucks in the Eastern Cape region, and 300 trucks per week to roads in the Western and Northern Cape regions. This will add significant pressure on an already distressed road network.

Growers are very keen to transport their citrus via rail instead, with farmers in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, recently choosing this option to send their fruit to the Durban port. However, cable theft in the area resulted in containers of citrus being stranded for nine days, impacting the quality of the fruit destined for overseas markets and forcing these growers to return to trucks.

These types of problems are, of course, not limited to citrus. Many other commodity producers are struggling with them as well, with entire industries frustrated and our economy severely fettered.

However, we cannot give in to the current mood of negativity and dejection in the country. We need to identify what can be done and then do it. It is in this spirit that the CGA welcomes comments made recently by the Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan in his Budget Vote Speech in Parliament.

Gordhan stated: “There is an urgent need to overhaul of our rail, ports and logistics infrastructure in order to cut the cost of doing business, create more jobs, and boost business confidence. This is a national imperative. The solutions of yesterday will not take us farther.”

This forward-looking sentiment is something we at the CGA agree with completely. The CGA remains, as always, committed to actively engaging with the Department of Public Enterprises and the management at Transnet to do our part in ensuring a functional future for rail in South Africa.

The minister also set out the financial injection Transnet will receive in the next five years to improve the network. An amount of R84.9 billion is targeted mainly at rail, with the Port Authority receiving a significant R13.4bn allocation as well. “At least R99.5 billion, 81%, of this capital investment is geared towards the maintenance and sustaining initiatives to improve operating efficiencies,” Gordhan clarified.

Furthermore, he repeated the promise President Cyril Ramaphosa made in his State of the Nation Address in February: the development of a Transnet Roadmap that includes the restructuring of Transnet Freight Rail to create a separate infrastructure manager for the rail network by October this year.

While the financial commitment and the goal of restructuring Transnet Freight Rail are welcomed, one cannot help but underscore the urgency with which the crisis needs to be addressed.

Concern is growing that the rail system is deteriorating to such an extent that no “overhaul” can save it and that the only option left would eventually be a rebuilding process. We must never reach that tipping point. That should indeed be, to use the minister’s words, a national imperative.

We hope government will act with the speed and seriousness the situation warrants. The future growth of the citrus sector, the 130 000 jobs it sustains, and the R30 billion in export revenue it generates annually is under threat.

The citrus export season started in April. Currently, hundreds of thousands of citrus cartons are arriving every day at our ports from inland farms. At this time of year, it truly is disheartening to think of what a wasted asset our rail system has become, but the comments and commitments made by government recently does present some hope for the future.