Aria calls for collaboration to revive beleaguered South African network

THE association representing South Africa’s rail sector has called for the industry to unite behind the government’s reform policies in order to revive the struggling national network.

Speaking during the Africa Rail Industry Association’s (Aria) annual general meeting, Aria chairman, Mr James Holley, says that considering the two metrics that measure the performance of a country’s railway – the share of passengers and freight moved by rail – the South African network is in “a really bad place at the moment.”

Aria represents operators, manufacturers and service providers in the rail sector, predominantly in South Africa.

While passenger numbers in South Africa have grown, they are still more than 80% lower than in the late 2000s. In the freight sector, national railway Transnet moved 173 million tonnes in 2022 compared with 226 million tonnes in 2018. Aria expects this to fall to between 155 and 160 million tonnes in the 2023 financial year, which ended on March 31, which would represent a 29% decline over five years.

This article originally appeared on railjournal.com. Read it here.