Johannesburg - Cable theft and sabotage have left the Transnet Freight Container Johannesburg-Durban corridor operating at 25% of its capacity.
This is one of the most important rail routes in the country, as it transports imports and exports that are vital to the economy.
The entity is asking the government to intervene after an increase in cable theft by ruthless criminals. It is reported that this sabotage has led to a near collapse on the Johannesburg-Durban rail line.
Speaking in a Radio 702 interview yesterday, Transnet Freight Rail’s central corridor managing executive, Rudzani Ligege, said the entity used to run 47 trains per day per line, but due to theft, the number had decreased to between 15 and five trains.
"This line is very important because it is connecting two big economies. In the container corridor, we are supposed to be running an average of about 47 trains per day per direction, but since the cable theft, the number has decreased," said Ligege.
He said they were supposed to be running about 80 hours from Durban to Johannesburg, but they were running an average of about six hours.
"(A total of) 40% of all cable theft incidents in TFR are happening on this particular line. In 2022/23, we will have lost about 523km of cable that has been stolen on this particular corridor. All these numbers are telling you that you can't run efficiently," said Ligege.
He said in the last three weeks there had been instances where they ran fewer than 10 trains due to the increased frequency of cable theft incidents.
"There are times where we even have five trains because of the frequency of incidents and the time it takes to actually repair infrastructure. We have got about 50 tunnels, and you find out that some of the incidents happen in the tunnels, which makes it difficult to recover from them," he said.
Ligege said there were a lot of informal settlements next to rail infrastructure, and what they have found is that because you cannot secure the whole metre, they have tried to use technology, but it becomes impossible given the budget and the amount of money needed to secure this environment.
"It has become a situation where it is beyond us as Transnet, and hence we went as far as calling for help; we really need help," said Ligege.
The lack of rail has also been reported to have led to a high rate of deaths due to accidents on the roads.
Yesterday, Cope said the ANC government had destroyed the railways and their infrastructure.
"Every day, people are dying on our roads. This weekend alone, 14 people lost their lives on the country's roads. People don't have an alternative. They are forced to travel by bus or minibus taxi because there are no more trains. Our roads have turned into slaughter fields," said Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem.
He said that it could not be business as usual.
Bloem said Cope was extremely concerned about the silence of the opposition political parties. "It appears as if they are also not concerned about the situation. Cope calls upon all political parties, NGOs, the private sector, and community-based organisations to raise their voices and apply pressure on the government to bring back trains," Bloem said.
The ANC was contacted, but by the time of publication, it had not commented.
The Star