Road/rail integration a key focus on North-South corridor

A study of regional integration of
road and rail facilities is currently
being conducted, designed to develop
the corridors linking up SA with
surrounding neighbouring states in
the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), according to
Siyabonga Gama, CEO of Transnet
Freight Rail (TFR).
The initial steps on this
programme, he told the recent
African Renaissance conference in
Durban, have specific areas of focus.
These range from uni-gauge
(1067mm), which provides flexibility
for SADC rail growth as an existing
interconnected system, to the
restoration of rail infrastructure to
agreed standards.
The programme will also focus
on axle loading, bridge and tunnel
structures and the creation of
‘borderless’ corridors and minimum
maintenance standards.
But, Gama noted, there was a
regional integration challenge – with
a distinct regional imbalance existing
at the present time.
“Currently Africa trade flows are
dominated by freight from landlocked
SADC countries to SA ports,”
he said.
SADC countries’ over-reliance
on single commodities for export
is an additional problem as are low
volumes of intra-regional freight
conveyed for trade between SADC
countries.
Then there’s the problem of rail
and ports infrastructure and skills
development.
The primary corridor of note in the
study is the major intra-regional link
between East and Southern Africa,
the North-South Corridor – a key
trading route in sub-Saharan Africa.
This corridor extends from the
Copperbelt in the Katanga Province
in the DRC and northern Zambia to
the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania
to the north-east, and to the SA ports
in the south.
“With increased mining activity
and growth in general trade along
this strategic route,” said Gama,
“infrastructure rehabilitation has
become a matter of extreme urgency.”