Privately owned train operating companies (TOCs) have until 7 February 2025 to submit their tenders to operate on five Transnet routes for the first time.

The Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager (TRIM), a new entity formed following last year’s restructuring of the state transport utility, is opening access to TOCs to transport a total of 2.4 million tons of freight across the five corridors.

TRIM interim CEO Moshe Motlohi tells Engineering News that the contracts will be awarded after a 60-day adjudication process and tariffs will vary according to route and commodity. The date of the start of the inaugural contracts has not yet been decided. The  duration of the contracts will be 10 years and include a renewal option.

The corridors involved are the Cape Corridor, Ore Corridor, Central Corridor, North-East Corridor and North Corridor. They include a weekly 104-wagon train carrying manganese on the Cape Corridor from Hotazel, Northern Cape, to Gqeberha, Eastern Cape; a weekly 348-wagon iron-ore train on the Ore Corridor from Sishen, Northern Cape, to Saldanha, Western Cape; two weekly 50-wagon container-train slots on the Central Corridor to the Kingsrest Container Park in KwaZulu-Natal, one from Capital Park in Pretoria and the other from City Deep/Kaserne in Johannesburg; two weekly 80-wagon train slots for magnetite on the North-East Corridor from Phalaborwa, Limpopo, one of them to Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, and the other to Maputo, Mozambique; and a weekly 50-wagon train carrying chrome on the North Corridor from Pendoring, North West Province, to Richards Bay.

Motlohi says ZAR65 billion is required for maintenance and capital expenditure on infrastructure over the next five years. The company hopes to leverage funding from customers through a model that will enable them to recoup their investment over time. The company will also seek funding through the Treasury’s Budget Facility for Infrastructure.

14 January 2025
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