Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the

South African Railways and Harbours Administration The South African Railways and Harbours Administration (SAR&H) was established on 31 May 1910 with formation of the Union of South Africa by the amalgamation of the four colonial railways and all harbours in South Africa - about 11,000 kilometres of ...

, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people for decades from the first half of the 20th century and was widely referred to by the initials SAR&H (SAS&H in

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

). Customer complaints about serious problems with Transnet Freight Rail's service were reported in 2010. Its head office is in Inyanda House in Parktown,

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

History

Railways were first developed in the area surrounding Cape Town and later in Durban around the 1840s. The first line opened in Durban on 27 June 1850. The initial network was created to serve the agricultural production area between Cape Town and Wellington. The news that there were gold deposits in the Transvaal Republic moved the Cape Colony Government (supported by British Government) to link Kimberley as soon as possible by rail to Cape Town as part of the colonial dream.

The Central South African Railways (CSAR) was from 1902 to 1910 the operator of public railways in the

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

and

Orange River Colony The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after Britain first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the Union ...

in what is now

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. During the Anglo-Boer War, as British forces moved into the territory of the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

and the

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when i ...

, the Orange Free State Government Railways, the Netherlands-South African Railway Company and the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway were taken over by the Imperial Military Railways under Lieutenant-Colonel Sir

Percy Girouard Sir Édouard Percy Cranwill Girouard, (26 January 1867 – 26 September 1932) was a Canadian railway builder, High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria and the East Africa Protectorate. Education Born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Désiré ...

. After the war had ended, the Imperial Military Railways became the Central South African Railways in July 1902, with Thomas Rees Price as general manager. With the creation of the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tr ...

in 1910, the CSAR was merged with the

Cape Government Railways The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. History Private railways The first railways at the Cape were privately ow ...

and the

Natal Government Railways The Natal Government Railways (NGR) was formed in January 1877 in the Colony of Natal. In 1877, the Natal Government Railways acquired the Natal Railway Company for the sum of £40,000, gaining the line from the Point to Durban and from Durban ...

to form the South African Railways, which is now Transnet Freight Rail.

Operations

Transnet Freight Rail is a freight logistics and passenger transport railway. It is the largest freight hauler in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. The company comprises several businesses: * GFB Commercial (General Freight Business) – Transnet's largest division; handles over 50% of its freight; * Coal Line, serving

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

exporters on the

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. ...

– Richards Bay line; second largest coal railway in the world, delivering 62 million tonnes of coal (also known as "Black Gold") in the year ending 31 March 2010; * Ore Export Line – dedicated to

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...

transport on the Sishen to Saldanha line; * Luxrail – The operation of the Blue Train, which is designed as a

five-star hotel Hotel ratings are often used to classify hotels according to their quality. From the initial purpose of informing travellers on basic facilities that can be expected, the objectives of hotel rating have expanded into a focus on the hotel experi ...

on wheels. Transnet also formerly owned

Shosholoza Meyl Shosholoza Meyl is a division of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) that operates long-distance (intercity) passenger rail services. It operates various train routes across South Africa, carrying approximately 4 million passengers ...

, the non-luxury long-distance passenger rail service. Shosholoza Meyl was transferred to the

Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) is a South African state-owned enterprise responsible for most passenger rail services in the country. History In 1910, as a consequence of the formation of the Union of South Africa, all railway ...

on 23 December 2008. A line in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

is leased to

Kei Rail Kei Rail is a railway project in South Africa. The Eastern Cape government restored rail services between AmaBhele and Mthatha, on an abandoned branch from the East London- Springfontein main line. Infrastructure was rebuilt, and passenger servi ...

Business Units

Transnet Freight Rail is divided into 6 Business Units: *Agriculture and Bulk Liquids ("ABL") *Coal Business Unit (Coal Line) *Intermodal (Container) and Automotive Business Unit ("CAB") (Johannesburg-Durban Line) *Iron Ore and Manganese Business Unit (Kimberley-Port Elizabeth & Ore Export Line *Mineral Mining and Chrome Business Unit ("MMC") (Witbank-Komatipoort & Phalaborwa-Komatipoort Lines) *Steel and Cement Business Unit ("SAC") The launch of the Business Units took place in a company wide event for all managerial staff on 18 April 2012.

Links to neighbouring countries

The Transnet rail network is linked to all of South Africa's neighbouring countries: : TransNamib of

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, at

Nakop Nakop is a small town and border post in northwestern South Africa on its border with Namibia. It lies ten kilometres north of the Orange River. In August 1914, the town was the site of the first conflict between German and South African troops i ...

; :

Botswana Railways Botswana Railways (BR) is the national railway of Botswana. History Botswana Railways (BR) was established in 1987 when the government of Botswana bought out the Botswana-based sections of the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ). NRZ had bee ...

Ramatlabama Ramatlabama (or Ramatlhabama) is a village and railway station north of Mafikeng, in the North West province of South Africa. It is located on the border with Botswana, and serves as a border post for road and rail traffic. At the time of the 2 ...

; :

National Railways of Zimbabwe The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways, is a state-owned company in Zimbabwe that operates the country's national railway system. It is headquartered in the city of Bulawayo. In addition to the headquarters, it has ...

and the

Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway The Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway (BBR) is a privately owned railway company that provides a rail link in Zimbabwe between Beitbridge at the South African border and Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo. The BBR is a build-operate-transfer project t ...

Beitbridge Beitbridge is a border town in the province of Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe. The name also refers to the border post and bridge spanning the Limpopo River, which forms the political border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. The border on the ...

; : Mozambique Ports and Railways at Ressano Garcia; :

Eswatini Railways Eswatini Railways (ESR), formerly known as Swaziland Railway or Swazi Rail, is the national railway corporation of Eswatini. Overview As in the rest of Southern Africa, the rail system of Eswatini is built to the narrow Cape gauge of . ESR pr ...

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

at Golela and Mananga; :

Maseru Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. The ...

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a population ...

on the

Maseru branch line The Maseru branch line is a railway line that connects Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, to the railway network of South Africa. Overview It branches from the Bloemfontein–Bethlehem line at Marseilles, Free State, and runs in a south-eas ...

(owned by Transnet).

Ongoing projects

Maputo Corridor The Maputo Corridor is a major trade corridor which connects the Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa with Maputo, which is a port and the capital of Mozambique. The corridor comprises roads - including the N4 toll road (from ...

: Transnet Freight Rail is developing a plan with the

Railroad Development Corporation The Railroad Development Corporation is an American railroad holding company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It operates several short line railroads outside the United States and acts as an investor, with management and institutional inves ...

to transport

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With ...

from Phalaborwa to

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,0 ...

as feedstock for a proposed

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

plant in Maputo. *In May 2010, Transnet revealed a five-year-plan involving rail projects costing R52Bn. Most of this would be spent on new rolling stock, including 304 locomotives and 7231 wagons. R4Bn would be spent on infrastructure connecting Majuba coal-fired power station with the Richards Bay freight railway. * Transnet is upgrading the rail corridor which connect the

Port of Ngqura The Port of Ngqura is a deepwater port on the east coast ( Indian Ocean) of South Africa, 20 km northeast of Gqeberha. It was authorised by an act of parliament in 2002, construction started in September 2002 and the port became operational ...

with

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of ...

mines around Hotazel in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...

. The corridor would be long, and would mostly involve upgrades of existing lines; capacity is expected to increase from 5·5 million tonnes / year to 16 mpta. *

Swazilink Swazilink is a planned railway in South Africa and Eswatini. Route The main railway would run 146 km from Lothair in Mpumalanga in South Africa to Sidvokodvo Junction in Eswatini. This would reduce the pressure on the Richards Bay line, re ...

is expected to connect from Lothair to

Sidvokodvo Sidvokodvo is a town in central Eswatini, situated south of Manzini. For a tourist, it is of very little appeal. It used to host Eswatini Railway's steam shed, but steam traction has long been abandoned in Eswatini. The station area is now comple ...

in Eswatini, at a cost of R17 billion.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.transnetfreightrail.co.za
Transnet website

South African Trains – A Pictorial Encyclopaedia
Transnet Railway companies of South Africa

History

Operations

Business Units

Links to neighbouring countries

Ongoing projects

See also

References

External links