Gautrain Management Agency CEO Jack van der Merwe has been quoted saying he hopes for a rise of “almost a fifth” in passenger totals once the Rosebank-Park section opens. But because the expected highway tolling has not been put in place, Gautrain’s originally hoped-for daily passenger totals are unlikely to be reached, even once the complete line is open to Park station. This was supposed to happen in March 2011 but the unforeseen extent of water leaking into the tunnel has put the date back at least twelve months. And there is still no certainty that Park station will be operational, even by March 2012. Only once the lengthy process of injecting grout in the problem parts of the tunnel is finished, can signalling and other accessory installation be started, followed by test running.
PROJECTIONS FOR MOZAMBIQUE’S LIMPOPO LINE
The Limpopo line of Caminhos de ferro do Moçambique (CFM – the state railway & harbours) is expected to carry some 700,000 tonnes of coal and other goods in 2012. This projection is based on signs of improvement in the economic situation in Zimbabwe, and growing regional interest in the port of Maputo for international trade. The 522km railway, running from the Indian Ocean to the Zimbabwe border at Chicualacuala, was rebuilt in 2004 following extensive flood damage but there has been little demand for goods traffic to and from Zimbabwe since then. The line was leased to Rail India Technical and Economic Services Ltd (Rites) together with the Sena Line but CFM – disappointed with the company’s performance, especially with regard to infrastructure maintenance – has taken back the operation. CFM Board Chairman Rosario Mualeia says maintenance is to be stepped up to optimise capacity, which should be close to 2 mta. He told Radio Mozambique: “We already have customers who want to move 500,000 tonnes of ferrochrome along the line.”
EXPANSION AT MAPUTO
Combined effort by the Mozambique government, Caminhos de ferro do Moçambique (CFM – the state railway & harbours) and Transnet Freight Rail has resulted in significantly improved goods movement by rail to and from Maputo. Facilities at the port have been substantially upgraded, and some US$70 million has been invested in refurbishing the nearby Terminal de Carvão da Matola (TCM), and expanding its capacity to 6mta. Dredging of the port channel, completed in 2011, made it possible for ships up to Panamax size to enter the harbour.
Expanding capacity further at TCM is the subject of a current feasibility study. Investment of about $US 800 million in both port and rail infrastructure is envisaged.
HIGHLIGHTS IN MOZAMBIQUE
The ports at Beira, Maputo and Quelimane in Mozambique have all seen major dredging. Beira and Maputo, previously restricted to ships with 40,000 ton capacity are now able to handle 60,000 tonne vessels.
Mozambican transport minister Paulo Zucula has told the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, that the Ressano Garcia line from Maputo to South Africa now has the capacity to carry 14 million tonnes of traffic a year, including five million tonnes of South African coal and magnetite for export from Maputo.
For the first time, trains now carry motor vehicles along this line. Previously, vehicles imported by Mozambique were unloaded at the South African port of Durban and taken by road to Maputo. Now the situation has been reversed: large ships can dock in Maputo, thanks to the dredging of the access channel, and so vehicles are unloaded in Maputo – not only for Mozambique, but also for the northern regions of South Africa, reaching their destination along the Ressano Garcia line. The Maputo-Swaziland line has been rebuilt, and is carrying passengers with greater comfort, speed and safety. From Beira, regular passenger trains are operating again to Marromeu (on the south bank of the Zambezi) and coal exports are moving along the Sena line from Moatize in Tete province to the port.
Zucula admitted there had been no improvement in the Limpopo line, linking Beira to Zimbabwe, which had been concessioned to the Indian companies Rites and Ircon International. This deal has been cancelled and CFM is to upgrade the line itself.
GAUTRAIN BUSDRIVERS RESUME STRIKE
On 1 February, the Gautrain bus drivers stopped working yet again, resulting in an official announcement that all bus service to and from Gautrain stations had been suspended until further notice. The Bombela Concession company, which operates Gautrain, subcontracts the running of the buses to a company called Mega Express, against whom the industrial action is aimed. The strike earlier in the year had no legal standing and on 13 January a court order instructed the drivers to return to work. Apparently they then went to the Labour Court themselves, trying to have the interdict overturned, but failed. Their response was to go out on strike again.
Less than a month ago, in mid-January, Railways Africa reported: “Dismayed commuters who have been inconvenienced yet again by striking Gautrain bus drivers – the second time in three months and the fifth strike in a year – say the service is becoming unpredictable and unreliable and feel they are not getting their money’s worth. Providing the premium rail and connecting bus service has cost around R30 billion to date – a sizable slice coming from the taxpayer – and fares are not cheap. Unused trip values on multi-journey tickets are not refunded. Daily passengers have lost count of the number of times trains have failed due to power problems and the line to Park station will be a year behind schedule if it opens in March. Speaking for the Bombela Concession company, Kelebogile Machaka explains that the drivers’ latest demand is for transport from their residences to work.”
TFR SHORTFALL: ROAD HAULAGE TO RICHARDS BAY
According to ArcelorMittal’s manager of port operations at Saldanha and Richards Bay Theuns van Tonder, quoted by FTW, road haulage to Richards Bay is “here to stay” on account of Transnet Freight Rail failing to meet industry requirements. In fact, he expects road transport of coal and minerals to the port to increase substantially.
DELAYS AT NGQURA FOLLOW DREDGER SINKING
The commissioning of two additional berths at the new port of Ngqura north of Port Elizabeth may be delayed by up to four months following the sinking of a dredger early on 1 January. No reasons have been disclosed officially but it is thought that underwater currents may have something to do with what happened. The container terminal at the port has 800 metres of operational quayside currently, giving it an annual throughput of about in 800,000 TEUs. It was estimated that this figure would rise to about 2 million through dredging to lengthen berthing to 1,300m. It was during this operation that the dredger sank
TFR & RBCT DID WELL IN DECEMBER
In all, 8.1 million tonnes of coal were shipped from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) in December 2011. This took the total for the year to 65.5 million tonnes – an increase of 3.3% on the 63.4 million tonnes in December 2010. The figure almost matched the record total achieved in 2007 – 65.98 million tonnes.
The impressive total achieved in December 2011 was largely cattributed to improved deliveries of coal by Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), whose performance during the second half of 2011 has been applauded. By comparison with 435 coal trains from Mpumalanga reaching Richards Bay in June, no less than 761 did so in December.
BOTSWANA COAL NEEDS ‘HEAVY GAUGE”
Coal mined in Botswana will have to be moved to the coast – for export to India or China – on a new “heavy gauge” railway independent of South Africa, according to Professor Roman Greynberg, senior research fellow at the Botswana Institute of Development Policy Analysis. Writing in the Zimbabwe Independent, he explains:“Cecil Rhodes’ narrow gauge from [the] Cape to Bulawayo is no longer fit for the purpose”. Many in Botswana, he suggests, view South Africa’s proposed railway into Swaziland as “a power play,” undermining local initiatives. In any case, he points out, there is no way the Richard’s Bay Coal Terminal could handle Botswana’s planned 70-90 million tonnes of coal exports annually. Greynberg finds South Africa’s current performance in economic terms unimpressive, reminding readers that the ignoring of warnings given 1n 1998 resulted in the present electricity crisis. The railways, he adds, did nothing about bottlenecks in the past twenty years. The days when everything south of the Congo River depended on the South African Railways are coming to an end, he concludes.
ETHIOPIAN LIGHT RAIL
According to Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) project manager Yehualashet Jemere, most of the preliminary work needed for the new light rail line has been completed and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), has begun construction in the vicinity of Meshualekia and Ayat Village in Addis Ababa.
ERC general manager Getachew Betru expects the first phase to be finished within 30 months. When public service starts, it is hoped to move some 60,000 people per hour on four separate lines including Ayat Village to the Defence Force Hospital (17.26km), Meskel Square to Kality (16.25km) and Lideta to Menilik Square (3.9km). The $US400 million budgeted cost is to be shared between Ethiopia (40%) and China (60%).
