TRANSNET FREIGHT RAIL: Proudly Placed to Alter the SA Rail Industry

In addition to transporting a broad range of bulk general freight commodities and containerised freight, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) operates South Africa’s world-class heavy haul coal and iron ore export lines, and is currently developing the manganese export corridor to heavy haul standards. “The division maintains a complex rail network of approximately 31,000 track kilometres, or 20,900 route km, over which commodities are railed,” TFR details of its critical task.

This diverse and distinctive rail network comprises over 1,000 km of heavy haul lines, as well as nearly 4,000 km of branch lines that serve as feeders to main lines. “The rail network service provides strategic links between ports, terminals and production hubs providing connectivity with Southern African railways to support regional integration,” TFR explains.

“Infrastructure connectivity, coupled with close co-operation with other Operating Divisions and collaboration with key customers, enables the delivery of freight volumes across value chains,” it adds, having pioneered a vertically integrated, and commercially separated, railway which operationally integrates with Transnet Ports, Port Terminals, Pipelines and Rail Engineering facilities to decentralise key responsibilities and ensure a more responsive rail freight network, better equipped to service the South African economy.

RICHARDS BAY RAMP-UP

An injection of locomotives in the Port of Richards Bay over recent months has propelled the number of GF-class coal trains from 21 to 28 a week, drastically reducing truck loads and migrating volume from road to rail. “All Transnet customers that were road hauling to the port of Richards Bay at the time were identified and approached directly to indicate interest in participating in a test train service,” TFR explains.

“As of 31 March 2024, the test train initiative had seen TFR moving 106,000 tons from road to rail whilst removing approximately 3,100 truckloads from the roads,” continues Theo Johnson, Acting Managing Executive on the North Corridor. “To date seven customers, a majority of whom were 100% on road before, have been tested. The process to test the remaining customers is ongoing, subject to available capacity on a week-by-week basis.”

The increase is the latest positive development after the coal export conveyor belt, which had been out of service for two years due to fire damage, came back into full operation at Richards Bay terminals. Commissioned at the end of December after rigorous tests were carried out successfully, it is has served to take more than 400 trucks off the road.

The ramp-up formed one central aspect of Transnet’s overarching Recovery Plan initiatives, instituted in October last year. The rail operating division had experienced the most significant decline in an overall operational underperformance and decrease in volumes, to the extent that the sustainability of the organisation was threatened.

RECOVERY SIGNS

A two-pronged approach resulted, with the development of a recovery plan targeting either optimisation and enhancement or transformation of the business. “We place a deep focus on the recovery of volumes from key operations and ODs across the organisation, as well as the improved execution of the segment strategy approach to drive commercial returns across operations,” Transnet detailed of the first priority, with its work at Richard’s Bay embodying its commitment to stabilising and improving the operational performance of the freight rail network in this manner.

“On the transformation side, we are actively reviewing and reinventing part of the organisation to meet the requirements for sustainable growth in the future, and will seek alignment to the Roadmap for the Freight Logistics System,” it added, this latter document aiming to address the serious challenges in the industry and setting out to reform the logistics system in the long-term.

Transnet rightly toasted the tangible proof of the recovery plan’s efficacy, in upbeat mood as rail volumes began to show clear signs of recovery in the last quarter of 2023. The quarterly performance rate of delivery to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) increased from 47,10 million tons in the third quarter to 48,74 million tons in the fourth, while TFR’s North Corridor, which handles an estimated 41% of total TFR volumes and supports key commodity sectors including export coal and chrome, was able to improve RBCT Export Coal volumes to in excess of one million tons by December 2023.

“The widely reported challenges with security, locomotive availability & reliability and network reliability have hampered TFR’s performance on this corridor in the last few years, and management is implementing a number of initiatives to ensure operational improvements,” TFR commented. “Transnet continues to implement recovery initiatives in partnership with the National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC) and other stakeholders in line with its mandate to deliver reliable, integrated, and seamless port and rail solutions.”