South Africa and Swaziland’s rail parastatals on Wednesday promised to deliver a feasibility study assessing the best way forward for a joining rail link to migrate freight from road to rail between the two countries by the end of the year.

In efforts to ease congestion on South Africa’s coal line and ease the congestion caused by freight transportation into Swaziland, South Africa’s Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and Swaziland Railway teamed up in 2011 to table a concept study for a 146 km rail service from Lothair, in South Africa, to Sidvokodvo, in Swaziland, said TFR’s Wilson Mogoba at the Sara Rail Conference in Midrand.

Following an intergovernmental memorandum of understanding, an inter-rail agreement between the companies in 2012 and the completion of a prefeasibility study in March 2013, the parties were now examining the operational philosophy and technical aspects, along with the socioeconomic and environmental impacts, of the proposed project, as well as determining the costs of roll-out and sources of funding.

The project was being led by a joint steering committee headed by TFR CEO Siyabonga Gama and Swaziland Railway CEO Stephenson Ngubane.

While Mogaba could not be drawn to reveal the cost of the project or its proposed timeline, particularly as the State-owned companies needed to obtain approval from their respective governments following the feasibility study, previous reports indicated a price tag of between R16-billion and R17-billion with completion of the first “tranche” of 16-million tons a year capacity expected in 2017/18.

Mogaba, who told Engineering News Online that the costs of development would be divided between the two countries, noted that the rail line would be upgraded in two further tranches, bringing capacity up to 31-million tons a year and finally 42-million tons a year over the next few years.

Work was currently under way to determine capacity demand and identify freight and commodities that could be shifted from road during the roll-out of the initial capacity.

The project, a component of Transnet’s Market Demand Strategy, also aimed to ease constraints on South Africa’s coal line and open up capacity for increased coal exports.

Mogoba said Swaziland needed to shift a significant proportion of its freight onto rail, particularly with 85% of its imports from South Africa transported by road. This would also move to ease congestion caused by road freight transportation at the two countries’ borders.

The proposed project was also part of Transnet’s ambition of placing the bulk of South Africa’s exports on rail and reducing the cost of doing business, while establishing links for an integrated African rail network.

The project planned to extend over 280 ha of land in South Africa and 450 ha of land in Swaziland, with the rail link moving across 23 rivers and boasting 47 bridges and 48 culverts in the mountainous region.