Shosholoza back on track

Long-distance rail operator Shosholoza Meyl will be back on track by the end of November after a three-month dispute with the state-owned Transnet saw its services suspended.

The Passenger Rail Agency of SA announced the re-instatement of its train service in a statement yesterday.

Bookings for December and January for the chartered train service were already open.

Prasa suspended the Shosholoza Meyl service on August 13. While Transnet accused Prasa of owing it around R1.3-billion, Prasa's CEO, Lucky Montana, in turn accused Transnet of charging too much and doing a poor job in maintaining its locomotives.

Shosholoza Meyl was transferred from Transnet to Prasa early last year.

In its annual financial report, Prasa said it had "inherited from Transnet a business that was poorly managed, neglected and whose financial management systems and internal controls were non-existent and certainly did not meet acceptable record- keeping principles".

source: Times Live

TransNamib assumes critical position in SARA

CEO of TransNamib Holdings, Titus Haimibili, has been appointed as vice president of  the Southern African Railways Association (SARA). Bernard Dzawanda, the executive director of SARA ceremoniously handed over Haimbili’s letter of appointment at TransNamib’s headquarters in Windhoek on Wednesday.

As vice president, Haimbili says, he wants to focus on securing finance for building  infrastructure by encouraging the governments of member countries to contribute. Furthermore, he wants to convince the banking sector to regard investments in the railway infrastructure as profitable long-term investments and to encourage private enterprises to get involved.

“Investment in rail infrastructure,” he notes, “has ripple effects to the growth of the economy as a whole.” Other objectives are influencing legislation so that railways can compete fairly with roads, and creating employment, especially among young people, thereby alleviating poverty.

Haimbili also wants to see the construction of the 244 kilometer railway track from Tsumeb to Ondangwa completed. These rails are a prestigious project for TransNamib and Namibia as they represent the only investment in railway infrastructure in the SADC area in the past 10 years.

The Southern African Railways Association (SARA) is a nonprofit association of railways in the Southern African Development Community. It aims to promote the business interests of regional railways. It was formed in 1996 to represent the interests of regional railway operators across southern Africa.

Its members include railway operators of Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique, Angola, Zambia, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo. In its own words, SARA wants “to be the leader in the promotion of trade, movement of goods and passengers, and a catalyst for economic growth. “In the SADC region.”

TransNamib previously served  in the vice-presidential and presidential roles at SARA in the years 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 respectively.

source: http://www.economist.com.na/

South Africa - One-millionth Gautrain passenger is a regular commuter

The Gautrain rapid-rail system in September celebrated carrying its one-millionth passenger since opening phase one of the project on June 8.
The lucky passenger who clocked in as number one-million on the four-station link between Sandton and OR Tambo Inter- national Airport was Ulindi Krull, from Reiger Park, who is a regular commuter between the Rhodesfield and Marlboro stations.
Krull was presented with a complimentary weekend stay at the luxury Radisson Blu Gautrain Hotel, in the heart of Sandton. The milestone, coinciding almost with a hundred days of operation, was the last in a series of rather interesting events related to the Gautrain, including a special trip by the 103-year old Ann Maynard, of Kempton Park, the successful trial of the system by eight dogs and their handlers from the South African Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind, and the recent romantic engagement of Daniel Lifschitz to Stacey Edelman at the top of the escalators at Sandton station.

source: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/