State-owned Transnet has reopened its freight line from the Pretoria complex to Pyramid station, following years of closure owing to challenges with cable theft and sabotage.
The line has been out of operation since August 2014 owing to the theft of signalling equipment and overhead track equipment, which resulted in decreased capacity and longer turnaround times of rolling stock.
The restart milestone, which took place in Pretoria this past weekend, will improve efficiencies and reliable delivery of services to Transnet’s customers in the mining and automotive sectors.
“The reopening of the line, which has been enabled for the most part by listening to people running the operations and implementing their proposals, will result in a more reliable network, which we believe will improve customer satisfaction,” said Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) CEO Siza Mzimela.
The entity intends to curb cable theft through aggressive initiatives such as reviewing operations methods, augmenting the physical guarding of assets with technology and engineering solutions.
This will be done in partnerships with key stakeholders, such as the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and the South African Police Service.
“By so doing, we will ensure that TFR delivers on time to customers in this important economic area,” Mzimela said.
The initiative is also part of the implementation of Transnet’s road to rail strategy and is one of the key projects to revive rail services in the Pretoria area.
It is also part of the Transnet and PRASA collaboration programme that has recently been established to identify common challenges and jointly develop solutions to improve service offerings to customers and passengers.