The Iron Ore Corridor between Sishen and Saldanha will shut down this week for its annual maintenance programme.
According to a Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) spokesperson, the corridor will be closed from September 26 to October 5 for infrastructure upgrades and maintenance activities over the 861km corridor.
“It provides us with an opportunity to catch up on the maintenance backlog, enabling us to replace old and obsolete infrastructure and to accelerate the major capital expansions in line with the expected volume growth on the iron ore line,” said the spokesperson.
“The shutdown work will result in the lifting of four temporary speed restrictions (TSRs) for a total length of 20.88km, therefore improving network availability.”
The scope of the work to be executed during the shutdown includes the replacement of 58 000 sleepers, screening 24.4km of track, ballast tamping 220km of track, ballast regulating 60km of track, replacing 5km of catenary wire, replacing 1 050 insulators and one bridge deck, as well as conducting various telecoms and signalling maintenance activities.
“The construction of the permanent bridge to replace the temporary bridge deck at Vredendal will continue throughout the shutdown, but it will be installed during next year’s shutdown,” reads a TFR statement.
