Strict road controls
will be enforced
Anna Cox
THE DEPARTMENT of Transport, with Government support, is examining the balance between road and rail, said transport minister Dullah Omar.
Speaking at the recent launch of 176 new passenger rail coaches for Gauteng, Omar said president Thabo Mbeki had announced a Cabinet decision to support a shift towards a better balance between road and rail in both freight and passenger transport.
"This will be a long-term process beginning with actions to level the playing fields, making rail more attractive, while imposing and enforcing strict controls on road transport. This will require actions to harmonise maximum axle weight limits and overload control strategies within the SADC which then need to be backed up by tighter law enforcement and punitive sanctions for both freight and public transport vehicle overloading," he said.
Omar stressed that this did not mean that Government was down-grading the importance of the road transport sector.
"We know it plays a vital economic and social role in our country and that many aspects of the services it offers can never be replaced by rail.
But we want a rational approach that puts the interests of the nation, the economy, the road infrastructure and the passenger before any sectoral interests. The process has already been recorded in this regard," he said.
In terms of safety, Omar said a Rail Safety Regulator would be set up as an independent agency with the necessary legislative power, enforcement capability and human resource capacity to effectively monitor and manage rail safety risk, taking action wherever appropriate to ensure that such risk remained firmly within internationally-acceptable norms.
Omar said that he expected this body to be functioning by the end of this year.
