Durban — Cable theft resulted in an 18-hour closure of Transnet Freight Rail’s North Corridor.
In a statement, Transnet said that at approximately 10.50pm on Tuesday night, Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) North Corridor which runs from Lephalale in Limpopo, through Gauteng and Mpumalanga, to Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal was hit by two major incidents of cable theft.
“One incident took place in Mswaneni between Vryheid and Ulundi on a tunnel bypass. The theft was extensive and included five spans of catenary wire stolen, five spans of contact wire vandalised and five spans of steel work damaged,” Transnet said.
“TFR has had to close the line to clear the load on the track, which will take approximately 8 hours. Once the load has been cleared a further 10 hours will be required to repair the line.”
Transnet said that the other incident on the North Corridor, also on Tuesday night, was an attempted cable theft at Mkhondo and required two hours of repair work, which has now been completed.
“These incidents are a clear indication that TFR is under siege from organised crime across the country,” Transnet said.
It said that the North Corridor is a key corridor for the movement of amongst other commodities, export coal and accounts for over 40% of the volume transported by TFR.
“Transnet is hard at work finding solutions to mitigate the scourge.
“We have put in place several measures to counteract this (including drones and tactical task teams) and are also collaborating with our customers on various initiatives. We continue to engage with all stakeholders and law enforcement agencies such as the South African Police Service,” Transnet said.
It also said that recently, TFR’s security officers were granted peace officer status by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services. This means that they will be able to make arrests and assist the National Prosecuting Authority with prosecutions. They will also be able to search premises, facilities and people, complete dockets to ensure suspects are charged correctly, and assist with basic investigations.
It added that approximately 1 500km of cable was stolen in the financial year ending March 2022. The net financial impact of this is approximately R4.1bn which includes operational disruptions, security costs, remediation and lost opportunity of foreign direct earnings.
Daily News