Stakeholders in the freight industry say the road infrastructure in the country is not being maintained adequately to endure the high volumes of truck movement. They claim it is time to migrate 20% of the country’s freight industry from road to rail, through the technologically advanced method of goods transportation – RailRunner.
According to the industry stakeholders, the Truckers Association of South Africa and RailRunner South Africa, about 87% of the country’s railway system remains unused. Yet, billions of rands are spent annually to maintain the under-utilised railway system.
They say increased use of the system will greatly benefit the country’s economy and address a myriad of challenges such as reducing road carnage.
The Truckers Association of South Africa (TASA) and Rail Runner SA say Africa’s freight industry needs to move with technological advancements by migrating from road to rail.
The president of TASA, Mary Phadi, says it will save the country billions of rands, that go into maintaining the under-utilised railway system across the country.
“Quite a lot of railway is standing alone, therefore it gets to be damaged and it is costing the giver billions of rands on a daily basis to retry and maintain the current railway system that is not used. Less than 13% of the capacity of the railway that we have in SA is being used and this program will push the government to day rather let’s putsch it to 50% or so.”
Phadi says the migration will address a myriad of challenges the country is battling with.
“This program is going to use less fuel. So, in other words, we are going save diesel. And secondly, the challenges that people have on the road of accidents. RAF is paying a lot of money for people who die on the road. The migration from road to rail is going to save those costs for the government itself and also going to assist the truck drivers of the challenges that they already have,” explains Phadi.
The Spokesperson for North West Department of Transport Management, Oshebeng Koonyaditse says fewer trucks on the roads, might help to reduce road carnages.
Koonyaditse says, “The question of trucks, especially on the roads, people always say there is a percentage that they contribute to the accidents. If there would be a reduction of trucks on the roads, as a department we would certainly welcome that.”
Phadi adds that the railway system should embrace industry technological advancements. “SA is ready. SA has got a good railway system that is there. The only thing that we need to do is to assist our government,”
The green light for the Tiger migration will make South Africa, the third country in the world to use the system and the first on the continent.
