Government has drafted a new white paper which aims to migrate passengers and freight from road to rail over the next 30 years, the Sunday Times reports.<\/p>\n
One of the key suggestions in the document is the introduction of wider ‘standard-gauge’ tracks across most of the national rail network.<\/p>\n
These will replace the narrow-gauge tracks currently in use, and open freight and passenger rail services to competition and the possible privatisation of some rail services.<\/p>\n
The Sunday Times reported that the government also wants cities to run their own local passenger train services.<\/p>\n
In response to queries from the paper, Transnet spokesperson Molatwane Likhethe said that the document in question has not been tabled to Transnet\u2019s executive committee, the board or government.<\/p>\n
However, he noted that the introduction of standard-gauge rail tracks was in-line with the systems used by other countries, and will allow for the introduction of long-distance passenger services with trains travelling in excess of 200km\/h.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a state-owned company with a mandate of lowering the cost of doing business in South Africa, it is our responsibility to have debates and ideas on how we can influence economic growth using our capabilities,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe major investment will, therefore, be the development of a minimalist standard-gauge, high-performance national rail network to maximise rail\u2019s inherent competitiveness, and provide sufficient capacity for heavy-haul and general freight services, as well as for regional rapid transit and long-distance passenger services.\u201d<\/p>\n