South Africa’s National Rail Policy Green Paper, unveiled on Tuesday by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, proposed a move from Cape gauge to standard gauge, as well as selected participation by the private sector in the domestic rail network.

The Green Paper aimed to solicit input from relevant stakeholders and the public with the goal to ultimately develop a national rail policy.

For a number of decades, railways in South Africa operated without an overarching policy framework to guide development, said Peters in Johannesburg.

“The railway sector has long been awaiting this Green Paper in order to create a much-needed policy dialogue.”

Peters noted that more than half of South Africa’s rolling stock and rail network were more than 50 years old.

“This impacts negatively on service delivery, especially the movement of freight and commuters.”

Obsolete rail infrastructure and rolling stock, inefficient operations and the underutilisation of the network had resulted in rail losing market share to road, with rail carrying 11% of the country’s freight and road carrying 89%, she noted.
 
“Consequently, [rail] is no longer able to compete effectively with other transport modes.”

GREEN PAPER INTERVENTIONS
Peters noted that only 9% of the world’s railways remained on Cape gauge, while 60% operated on standard gauge. 

“Standard gauge is clearly the superior gauge and is, therefore, proposed as an appropriate gauge for the country in meeting future capacity demands.

“This is in line with the African Union resolution that all future railways must be on standard gauge.”

She added that “government recognises the enormity of the investment required to achieve the set objectives and that existing sources will be inadequate to fund all the requirements”.

The Green Paper also recommended private sector participation and investment in projects where government could not afford to invest and/or where value for money could be demonstrated.

Peters added that all new rail developments within State-owned enterprises, or from any other player, would have to “be aligned to the new planning frameworks”.

The Green Paper was open for comment for a sixty-day period.

The Department of Transport (DoT) would also conduct workshops on the document in all provinces.

Public consultation closed on November 15.

STANDARD GAUGE
Rail gauge referred to the space between the rails on a railway track. Cape gauge, currently largely in use in South Africa, was 3.6 feet, and standard gauge 4.8 feet.

Technically, standard gauge allowed for higher speed trains, and load stability benefits such as the double-stacking of containers.

Acting Transnet Group CEO Siyabonga Gama said on Tuesday that it would cost R1.5-trillion to convert South Africa’s rail network to standard gauge.

He noted that the policy changes suggested by the Green Paper would be “like eating an elephant”, and that changes would have to be implemented bit by bit, on a case-by-case basis.

He noted that several of Transnet’s customers did not necessarily require a faster service, but rather one that was on time.

It was also necessary to still enable rail trade between South Africa and its neighbouring countries, which used Cape gauge.

DoT rail regulation chief director Ngwako Makaepea emphasised that the change to standard gauge “would not happen overnight”, and would only follow cost:benefit analysis on certain selected corridors.

“We are inviting discussions on this.”

The Green Paper suggested that the current urban commuter rail network remain on Cape gauge.

University of Johannesburg Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management’s Professor Jackie Walters also emphasised that any move to standard gauge would have to be done on a “case-by-case basis”, following “proper cost:benefit analysis” to see if the cargo attracted to such a line can support the investment costs in a sustainable manner.

Moving to the wider standard gauge not only affected the rolling stock and railway line, but potentially also the width of the rail reserve, signalling systems, bridges and tunnels.

Walters said moving the entire network to standard gauge would make Transnet’s current multibillion-rand rolling stock investments obsolete.

He said it could be positive to implement a standard-gauge network on high-volume corridors such as Durban–Gauteng, where the road network was struggling to cope.

Gama added that Transnet’s current R300-billion-plus investment fell short of the R500-billion to R700-billion required, which left room for private sector participation in South Africa’s rail sector.

Walters welcomed the emphasis on the private sector in the rail industry, saying this sector “had previously, to a large degree, been absent”.