Photo by: Duane Daws
The first yearly shutdown of the CapeCor railway line, for large-scale maintenance, would start on Wednesday, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) said on Tuesday.
This R92.3-million shutdown would be carried out over two main sections of the railway line – the first being the 232 km line from Beaconsfield to De Aar, where maintenance on the line would be completed over a seven-day period.
A partial shutdown on the second section, stretching 229 km between Klerksdorp and Veertienstrome, would be completed over a ten-day period. The line would be closed from 06:00 to 20:00 every day, with trains running at night.
Over 25 major activities would be undertaken, including the laying of new rails, the installation of new sleepers, ballast screening and work on optical fibre networks.
The shutdown would assist TFR to “catch up” on its maintenance backlog; replace old, obsolete and problematic infrastructure as part of sustainability of the business; and accelerate the major capital expansion or upgrade projects in line with expected volume growth.
Further, TFR noted that the shutdown was beneficial, as it prepared the infrastructure to sustain current and future volume growth in line with the parastatal’s Market Demand Strategy.