Swaziland Rail Link project will increase freight transport capacity between South Africa and Swaziland, while also supporting traffic on the Coal Railway and reducing congestion on the North-South Corridor. The railway will be dedicated to freight transport and will provide connection to the important Port of Richards Bay in South Africa and, further on, it could create access to Maputo Port in Mozambique.
South Africa is trying to develop its rail transport connections to neighbouring countries and aims to increase freight transport flows and to ensure efficient connections that would contribute to a higher railway transport share.
In the financial year 2017, Transnet, South Africa’s transport and logistics transport supplier, witnessed a 24.3% growth in railway transport, while growth in the whole freight transport segment as due to coal and manganese exports. The increasing freight volumes shipped by rail reflect the progress with the company’s strategy about shifting traffic to railways.
To develop the railway system and increase access not just in South Africa, but also in other African countries, Transnet is implementing the Inter-Railway initiative which consists of a railway to the state of Swaziland for which the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding five years ago. The new railway will form a freight transport corridor to Richards Bay Port (South Africa) and then to the southern port of Mozambique, Maputo Port, creating an important logistics corridor for all three countries. Once the railway is put into operation, the trains will run without stops at the border between South Africa and Swaziland, thus contributing to the increase of cargo volumes. Also, the railway will ease traffic on the eastern railway and on the North-South Corridor and will remove bottlenecks on the coal transport line which currently ensures the transport of 15-17 million tonnes of coal per year.
The project of the 150-km railway, leaving Lothair (Mpumalanga province) in Sidvokodvo (Swaziland), includes the construction of 50 km on the territory of South Africa and 100 km in Swaziland and will also require the modernisation of the two adjacent railways, from Ermelo to Lothair (in South Africa) and Sidvokodvo (in Swaziland) to Richards Bay. The feasibility study has already been elaborated and approved by the railway companies of the two countries and works to prepare necessary lands are underway. The official expression of interest (EOI) for the USD 1.4 billion project will be launched soon. The project implementation method is expected to be a public-private partnership.
Necessary land in Swaziland has been procured and consultations with authorities are currently underway. The Government has recently confirmed their support and the allocation of financing in the 2017/2018 budget. In South Africa, the project advances with the approval of procurement for 506 hectares. The authorities have issued necessary environment permits, while the feasibility studies for the modernisation of existing railways are in progress.
The main objective is to reduce road and railway traffic congestion based on the increased capacity of the railway to allow longer and heavier trains. The railway is designed to permit an axle load of 26 tonnes and longer, 2.5-km trains, with 200 wagons. 12 trains will run daily on the line which will become operational in 2021 and will ensure the transport of a cargo volume estimated at 22 million tonnes.
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