The rail industry has welcomed the National Rail Policy launched last week, but say Transnet’s approach to the process will not result in any private investment in the sector, despite the policy specifically being meant to ensure a balanced, well-considered and fundamentally investable approach to third-party access.
Minister Fikile Mbalula said at the launch the NRP creates policy certainty, that introduces radical structural reforms to enable broader participation and open new avenues for investment and competitiveness. Earlier this year, Transnet pre-empted the launch of the NRP by releasing its conditions for private third-party access to the country’s freight rail network.
The private industry of course did not invest hundreds of millions of Rands in trainsets before structural reform became a reality, and therefore no trainsets are ready to be deployed. Long term funding is required to provide commercially viable freight rates and it takes about 18 to 24 months to procure a trainset.“The complete lack of existing trainsets as well as un-investable nature of the approach render Transnet’s current proposal fundamentally meaningless.