The development of cross-border rail corridors linking Southern African Development Community (SADC) member States is the most effective way to unlock regional trade and create sustainable cooperation between countries in the region, Public Enterprises director-general Tshediso Matona said at the recent Southern African Railways Association (Sara) rail conference.

“The rail corridor concept should be adopted as the modus operandi of the SADC region. South Africa will continue to support efforts towards the regional coordination of countries’ rail development plans, as government is cognisant of the critical role that rail network plays in the region’s economic growth ambitions,” he noted.

A regionally linked rail network would enable more efficient transport of these commodities to the export centres, improving the region’s supply-chain capability and enhancing its level of international competitiveness.

“We now need to move on cross-border rail projects. The nature of railways and other infrastructure means that it makes sense to take advantage of economies of scale, so we need to focus on what each country is doing and join up our economies,” he said.

Matona cited the long-planned South Africa–Swaziland rail link as an example of intra- regional cooperation centred on the development of symbiotic rail corridors.

The plan to move ahead with a R16-billion to R17-billion greenfield railway line between Lothair, in South Africa, and Sidvokodvo, in Swaziland, would primarily be an attempt to relieve pressure on the coal corridor to Richards Bay, in KwaZulu-Natal.

State-owned freight logistics group Transnet and Swaziland Railways confirmed in 2012 that they planned to move ahead with a 146 km single, nonelectrified line by 2016, with an initial yearly capacity of 15-million tons.

Swaziland Public Works and Transport Minister Lindiwe Dlamini said during a panel discussion last week that government had completed a Level 3 feasibility analysis on the project, with “several millions” committed for further feasibility studies in 2014/15.

“Investment in rail is an area [where] a lot needs to happen, as we have great ambitions for railway in the SADC [region], and this is government’s most important [infrastructure] project at the moment,” she remarked.

Adding to the panel discussion, Zambia Railways CEO Professor Muyenga Atanga said the repossession of that country’s once privately owned rail company by the State in 2012 had demonstrated government’s commitment to its local rail industry.

He said the Zambian government had rehabilitated 1 062 km of rail line, had committed some $120-million to the refurbishment of its rail network and was keen to look at developing rail partnerships with its neighbours.

Zambia was also in talks with neighbour Botswana to investigate possible linkages between the Zambian rail network and the Walvis Bay rail corridor.

Meanwhile, Botswana continued to develop its rail infrastructure, having last year taken delivery of 562 wagons from Transnet Engineering, all of which were now in service.

Botswana Railways CEO Dominic Ntwaagae said the group had signed a bilateral agreement with Namibia for the development of the Trans-Kalahari Railway and would “continue” to engage Botswana around possible rail synergies.