Programme Director
Honourable Premier of the Eastern Cape, Ms. Balindlela
Honourable MEC of Transport, Mr Mhlahlo
Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Metro, Cllr Maphazi
Members of the Provincial Legislature
The Captains of the Rail Industry
Delegates
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my honor and privilege to address this Conference. I particularly want to
thank the MEC Thobile Mhlahlo for his vision in convening the Provincial Rail
Conference, and his Departmental staff for the hard work in bringing this
Conference to fruition.
Distinguished Guests, the status of rail transportation cannot be overemphasized
as it continues to play a significant role in South Africa’s economic growth.
The challenge we are facing is how to adjust our rail systems so as to respond
to our new economic challenges. We need to remind ourselves that if rail
transportation does not enjoy the confidence of the public at large, congestion
will strangle our metropolitan areas and hurt South Africa’s productivity.
It is precisely for this reason that my key remarks this morning are to
highlight the major strides our Government has made in transforming the rail
systems specifically in relation to the freight logistics system, the passenger
rail and as well as the rail safety and security regime. I would also use this
opportunity to highlight a few pointers for the discussions that would unfold
during this Conference.
Quite frankly, we are all aware that the role of Rail transportation is to
provide a platform through which the movement of people and goods enhances
economic productivity and trade.
It is however disturbing that the very same rail transport has been marred for
many years by aging rail networks infrastructure, lack of investment and a
decreased volume of freight it transports.
We have had to develop the National Freight Logistics Strategy as a blue print
for an urgent need to increase investment and optimize rail transportation. The
aim was to improve the freight logistics system in ensuring the efficient
movement of goods and increased tonnes of rail volumes compared to road - as
well as reversing the shift from road to rail, particularly of cargoes that
should otherwise be moved by rail.
The Freight strategy has also identified specific projects to address the reform
of the rail sector in order to achieve the following:
Vertical separation of Infrastructure and operations;
Multiple Public and Private commercial operators;
Open access on secondary networks; and
mandatory access on primary networks.
As I stand before you, the National Departments of Transport and Public Enterprises as well as the Transnet Freight Rail are already in the process of finalizing the MoU to transfer to the Department of Transport three clusters of rail lines such the Tourism rail lines, Branchlines and no service rail lines.
Parallel to this, we have also begun a process of establishing a Rail Economic Regulator (RER). We believe that the Regulator will help Government to deal with the inability of the railways to respond to immediate customer requirements. It will also help to establish appropriate institutional and regulatory structures to prevent pricing abuse in captive markets, ensure fair conditions for inter-modal and intra-modal competition as well as create an environment for private sector participation in the rail sector. A draft Rail Economic Regulator Framework has already been completed and we will soon engage various key stakeholders for consultation purposes.
Distinguished Guests, our Freight Logistics strategy has also been a corner
stone in supporting the integration of marginalised local economies with the
main logistics corridors. The question we’ve tried to answer is how to improve
the efficiency of our corridors and rail capacity for an improved performance of
our economies.
Our Strategy has been able to garner a huge increase in traffic, volumes and
changes in the nature of rail freight cargo particularly with huge improvements
to the rail infrastructure and rolling stock driven by unprecedented Government
funding.
Our freight strategy further supports freight rail transport, especially in
areas that have been neglected but are demonstrating a strong case and
sustenance of local economies, especially those areas that are geographically
isolated from the rest.
We have embarked on an initiative to revitalize the Branch-lines across the
country. This gives weight to our government’s commitment to the Priority
Corridor Strategy, where we would balance the socio-economic planning objectives
on rail existing strengths. This would further allow the cross-cutting between
rural and urban areas and overcome the urban bias to development.
A perfect example of a project that falls within this category is the Kei rail
line which we officially launched in the Eastern Cape Province, on 1 March 2008.
Its operational license was issued by the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) on 5
February 2008, to ensure the promotion of safe railway operations and to
facilitate a modern, flexible and efficient regulatory regime.
As part of the Kei development corridor, the multimillion Kei rail project was
launched in 2003 and its aim was to improve the province’s economy and decrease
the number of heavy vehicles on the roads. Built in the 1900s, the 281km stretch
of rail between East London and Mtata had been dormant for many years but
through the strategic intervention of government’s Integrated Planning, it has
now been revitalized. Such other projects would include ENkwalini line in KZN as
well as Douglas-Belmont line in the Northern Cape.
This brings me to the social role of rail transport being to provide our people
with mobility and access to social services and economic opportunities. One of
our biggest achievements has been the development of the National Passenger Rail
Plan which was approved by Cabinet in November 2006.
Our rail plan is driven by a stronger need for full recovery to restore the
whole rail network. Secondly, limited system with the intention to close all but
efficient lines/routes and lastly priority rail corridors in order to balance
the socio-economic planning objectives on rail’s existing strengths.
I am proud to announce that major work has already been achieved as part of our
Rail Plan.
In 2006, we began a process of consolidation of the various entities currently
engaged in the long-distance and local commuter rail services such as Metrorail,
Shosholoza Meyl, and the SARCC,
The first phase of the consolidation of Metrorail into South African Rail
Commuter Corporation (SARCC) was completed in 2006. I’m glad to announce that on
the 1st of April 2008, we completed the second phase of the consolidation
process with the transfer of Shosholoza Meyl to SARCC. This has allowed the
SARCC to deliver long distance and regional services effectively using
Shosholoza Meyl which has a critical role in unleashing the development
potential of our rural people.
Through the consolidation, the role of the Shosholoza Meyl will go beyond long
distance services and include regional services within Provinces such as the new
services between the areas of Mtata and East London. It will also play a major
role in the preparations for 2010 Fifa World Cup particularly for the
transportation of spectators.
Planning for future corridors that are showing a strong case for the role of
rail is also of paramount importance. By now, most of you should be aware of the
Moloto Rail Corridor Development Initiative, which was approved by cabinet in
March 2008. For those who are not aware this is an initiative which
institutionally belongs to the Mpumalanga government but through our
government’s integration systems, involves quite a number of stakeholders.
A detailed feasibility study for the project aimed at the design and feasibility
of a new integrated multi-modal transport system was conducted and completed in
2007. The corridor study area transverses three (3) Provinces such as
Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng and nine (9) Districts, Metropolitan and Local
Municipalities;
This initiative consists of two components namely; to review the transport
system not only to solve the commuter problem but also to establish an economic
activity spine to stimulate the local economic development. Passenger rail
service continues to be a national competency even though the SARCC is working
very closely with Metros and other municipalities to ensure delivery of rail
services in a manner that supports their integrated transport plans.
Through the SARCC, the National Department of Transport has funded
infrastructure and rolling stock projects to address the damage caused by many
decades of under investment in rail passenger transport.
Government has committed R16 billion over the next three years to upgrade both
rolling stock and infrastructure over the next three years. In that regard, we
will be in a position to effectively respond to existing and future passenger
demands. We have for instance set a target of peak frequencies of 5 to 10
minutes particularly for rail service by 2010. Our plan is to ensure that by
2010, there is a train available every five (5) minutes during peak periods. We
will need to ensure that train services are available for at least 14 - 16 hours
a day.
Our rail approach is also focused not only on playing a socio economic role in
providing accessibility to work and other services for lower income groups, but
to all the other sectors of our communities whose usage of the rail passenger
service would relieve our roads from road accidents and congestion.
Examples of these are the Soweto Express and the Khayelitsha Express launched in
2007, as well as the Business Express to be launched on Thursday between Tshwane
and Johannesburg.
These initiatives recognize that the passenger rail service is and should not be
a service for only the poor. Middle and higher income groups have a strong
demand for safe and reliable services with strong emphasis on product offerings
for speed, comfort and convenience. We are on a journey to transform the South
African rail passenger services into a mode that is capable to deliver a quality
service to all South Africans irrespective of social status, class and
background.
The timing for the introduction of the Express is also very opportune given the
preparations for the World Cup. The Express will be used particularly to
transport visitors to the games for the World Cup. We expect that the Express
will also be deployed effectively by Metrorail as part of our transport
operations plan for both the Confederation Cup in 2009 and ultimately the games
in 2010.
As you are aware, the SARCC is investing more than R 2 billion in the
construction of stations as part of the 2010 preparations. The work is also
underway for the construction of the R25bn Gautrain Rapid Rail Link as part of
our preparations for the Soccer World Cup And the SARCC is involved in the
integration of commuter rail with the Gautrain.
This brings me to the major progress that we have made in terms of safety and security in the railway environment. Through the Rail Safety Regulator we have put in place a sound railway safety regime.
We already have appropriate safety regulations and standards in place. The regulator is also ensuring that operators develop sound safety management systems, conducts safety audits and inspections, as well as occurrence and incidence investigations.
We have also made major strides through SARCC and SAPS to improve security in our rail environment. We are on course to deploy 5000 SAPS Rail personnel in our passenger rail system by 2010. We have already introduced more than 1700 police personnel in our rail system.
There is already evidence that visible policing within the rail environment has led to a decrease in reported crimes by 13% in 2007/2008 as compared to the years 2006/2007. I am confident that this kind of improvements will continue to promote a safe and reliable rail service. Furthermore, these initiatives will allow our rail service operators to win their battle against cable theft which, at times renders them ineffective and causes financial losses.
We must however be mindful of the fact that as a Country we have recognized
that rail, more than any other mode, has a stake in creating intermodal
transportation centers. If we want people to leave their cars, we have to make
it easy to move from one mode of transportation to another. Intermodal
connections are critical to mobility and critical to rail success. The issues –
and the solutions – are numerous. And they must be tackled -- not only at the
national level, but community by community, customer by customer. I challenge
this conference to look at solutions for this integration.
I believe that public transportation is not about trains and buses and tracks
and roads. It’s about people. And, the more we focus our attention on the people
we serve, the closer we will get to achieving our vision of public
transportation as the mode of choice in S. Africa. More than ever before rail is
serving as a catalyst for expanding economic growth and trade, and for improving
the quality of life for all South Africans. This illuminates a basic fact about
our rail sector that for every R1bn invested in rail projects expenditures,
estimated thousands of jobs are generated nationwide.
This Conference must therefore deliberate on missing rail infrastructure links
as well as ways of securing adequate and predictable funding for investment in
the Nation’s rail system particularly for rural development. Such inquisitions
on missing rail links must be informed by the quest to provide public transport
solutions to our people as opposed to creating public transport first and then
try to forcefully fit our people into it regardless of the value it brings to
them.
In addition, rail links must be informed by the projected economic growth into
the future, as these are lasting investments on infrastructure that would serve
our economy and people for many decades to come.
We also need to enhance security and safety by providing the means and
mechanisms to perform risk assessment and analysis and to develop appropriate
response capabilities.
These core principles will enhance the safety and security of all South
Africans, even as we increase their mobility, reduce congestion, and grow the
economy.
Like all other modes of transport, rail transport must play its role optimally
if we are to have an overall efficient and effective transport system for goods
and our people. Therefore, rail must not be tackled as competitor to road or air
travel, but as complementary to an overall transport system for our economy and
its people, hence I have emphasized the critical role of intermodal connections
in order to attain efficiency at all levels.
Let us therefore treat this Conference as a moment of great opportunity -- an
opportunity to work together in crafting solutions and transforming our rail
systems to become a legacy for generations to come. In so doing, I believe we
will indeed find ourselves ‘back to rail’ as the theme of this Conference
demands of us. Once again, thank you for the opportunity to address you this
morning, and I hope you enjoy this important and very timely conference.
I thank you.