President Cyril Ramaphosa says that his promise of high-speed trains for South Africa is still making its way to reality – with the Joburg-Durban being the first point of focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president’s long-held ambitions for a high-speed rail (HSR) network connecting cities got a brief mention in his 2024 State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday evening (8 February), updating the nation on its progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In November last year, Cabinet approved a framework for high-speed rail, focusing initially on the Johannesburg to Durban corridor,” the president said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cabinet approved the framework on 1 November 2023<\/strong><\/a>, but little detail was given aside from naming the Durban-Joburg corridor as the priority route, which would move on to feasibility studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Cabinet approved the High-Speed Rail Development Framework and the financial implications for implementation will be discussed between the Ministers of Transport and Finance,” government said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Cabinet approved the prioritisation of the Johannesburg to Durban corridor for a detailed feasibility study, and the Johannesburg-Polokwane to Musina, and the Johannesburg to Mbombela will be put to the market.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the topic of rail, Cabinet also adopted the Freight Logistics Roadmap in December 2023, which includes a broad plan to implement the National Rail Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The National Rail Policy is the whitepaper that contains specific mention of High Speed Rail (HSR), which was adopted by cabinet in March 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The HSR framework within the policy had not received particular mention until a few months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In June 2023<\/strong><\/a>, the Department of Transport noted that the framework was still being developed, with various criteria and specific corridors needing to be identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further, the department said that feasibility studies still needed to be conducted on prioritised HSR corridors – contingent on approvals and funding being secured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Off the rails<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ramaphosa\u2019s fixation on high-speed trains dates back to his 2019 SONA, where he said he dreams of South African cities filled with skyscrapers and connected by bullet trains<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe should imagine a country where bullet trains pass through Johannesburg as they travel from here to Musina, and they stop in Buffalo City on their way from Ethekwini back here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHas the time not arrived to build a new smart city founded on the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution? I would like to invite South Africans to begin imagining this prospect,\u201d Ramaphosa said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, contrary to the president’s lofty ambitions, South Africa\u2019s rail networks have gone in the opposite direction, being virtually unusable for passenger transport and heavily crippled for heavy haul and freight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The railway lines themselves have been besieged by criminals and stripped bare. The rail logistics crisis has become a disaster almost on par with the Eskom power crisis, leading to billions of rands of lost revenue and investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Freight Logistics Roadmap approved at the end of 2023 aims primarily to stabilise and improve the operational performance of Transnet\u2019s freight rail network – with the NRP and HSR likely falling down the list of priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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