Transport minister Fikile Mbalula on Monday touted an ambitious national rail policy (NRP) under which the government could grant third-party access to railway lines and conclude the handover of commuter rail services to municipalities.
The NRP is geared at guiding the partnership between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private rail businesses but does not amount to privatisation, Mbalula said. “There is no such policy on the table.”
The NRP goals are laid out across short, medium and long timelines. The government hopes to accomplish some of the many stated reforms in the next three years.
However, though Mbalula regards the policy as the silver bullet for SA’s crippled rail infrastructure, it has yet to be published.
The specifics were still unavailable hours after Mbalula’s media briefing. At the close of business on Monday, department spokesperson Esethu Hasane said publication was still pending. “It should be gazetted today by Government Printing Works. We are still waiting.”
Publishing the NRP white paper in the relevant state periodical, Mbalula claimed, would lead to “policy certainty” and introduce “radical” structural reforms. “This is intended to open up space for private sector investment and effective economic regulation.”
White papers are discussion documents reflecting in broad terms a government policy. They are a preliminary and crucial step in the SA lawmaking process.
Mbalula promised the NRP would lead to better rail access for rural areas, create jobs, develop infrastructure, improve freight pricing, increase productivity, and secure private sector funding.
He expects the NRP would “open up the rail market to other operators to compete and improve operational efficiency that is needed to improve service quality and competitive pricing in the freight sector”.
“These interventions will also reposition both passenger and freight rail to achieve inherent competitiveness,” he said.
The Passenger Rail Agency of SA’s (Prasa) failures are tackled in the NRP, he added. It proposes private sector access to some routes and the National Land Transport Act empowers municipalities to offer commuter services in corridors integrated with public transport networks.
He admitted the government’s “intractable challenge” in funding passenger and commuter rail sustainably, which means looking to municipalities and the private sector for help.
Mbalula said thieves and vandals “stripped bare our stations and rail network” and hinted that Prasa needs more than mere policing to stop rail crime. Prasa needs strategic input from security experts with the sort of skills developed on “the farm”, a well-known state security training site.
Mbalula insisted third parties’ access to the rail network is vital in making it functional and competitive. Proposed changes include private sector operators in freight and passenger rail accessing certain lines and introducing their own rolling stock.
“Train operators and SOEs can lease their rolling stock to any other party and to encourage new entrants in the market,” he said.
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