Despite considerable investment to upgrade its Richards Bay coal line, Transnet is under continuing pressure from both mining companies and the port terminal to boost capacity even further, reports Paul Ash.

SOUTH Africa's Treasury is being blamed for a four-month delay in concluding the country's largest rolling stock contract and for putting a cap on the total cost which could reduce the number of commuter trains being acquired.

THE Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) says it will commence feasibility studies on 200km of proposed extensions to South Africa's Gautrain commuter network by the end of June.

TRANSNET celebrated its biggest-ever locomotive order on March 17, when it signed contracts worth Rand 50bn ($US 4.7bn) with four international suppliers for a total of 1064 locomotives for its Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) subsidiary.

GREATER Wellington Regional Council has sold 34 redundant class EM emus built by Ganz-Mavag, Hungary, in 1982, to an unnamed buyer in South Africa, which will refurbish the trains for re-use in Africa.

GRINDROD, South Africa, announced on January 20 that its Grindrod Freight Services (GFS) subsidiary has formed a joint venture with the Pemgrani Remgro Infrastructure Fund (PRIF) to provide rolling stock leasing services to railways in Africa.

PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has awarded Siemens a contract worth around €180m to resignal main lines around Johannesburg and Pretoria as part of the agency's National New Signalling Programme.

SOUTH African mining company Kumba Iron Ore has taken delivery of six C30ACi diesel locomotives from GE to shunt heavy-haul trains at its Sishen mine in Northern Cape.

THE FIRST two of 95 Class 20E dual-voltage electric locomotives being supplied to Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) by the CSR E-loco supply consortium was transferred from the port of Durban to the nearby depot at Umbilo on November 14 for commissioning.

THE government of Gauteng is evaluating options for the expansion of the Pretoria – Johannesburg Gautrain standard-gauge network as part of the South African province's 25-year Integrated Transport Master Plan (ITMP25), which seeks to prioritise public transport investment in the region.