Operations resume after theft shut key railway serving South Africa's iron-ore exporters
Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has resumed mainline operations on its ore corridor in the Northern Cape.
Operations on the rail line linking South Africa’s iron-ore hub in the Northern Cape province to the country’s west coast ground to a halt earlier in the week because of power cable theft.
The 86 km line that’s used to haul iron-ore and manganese from Kumba Iron Ore's giant Sishen mine and other operations in the province to the port of Saldanha stopped operating after the theft of 11 spans of wire caused a power failure on Tuesday, Transnet, the State-owned entity that operates the line, said in a statement.
“Security teams were immediately activated and are working with law enforcement agencies, stakeholders and customers to curb this security threat,” the company said. “Our employees will be working around the clock to get services back to normal and get customers’ cargo moving as soon as possible.”
The route is the second crucial corridor to be hit by theft in the past month. In the week ended May 21, a corridor that runs from the Port of Durban on the Indian Ocean coast to the City Deep station in downtown Johannesburg ran at just 25% capacity after overhead power lines that keep the trains running were severed.
The vandalism on the corridors add to other problems that Transnet is grappling with, including a shortage of locomotive spare parts on its network that moves coal. Earlier this year, Transnet rejected an overture from Kumba to take over the running of the iron-ore rail line, which is one of its most profitable, but battles to move sufficient volumes.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest News
Showroom
Our Easy Access Chute concept was developed to reduce the risks related to liner maintenance. Currently, replacing wear liners require that...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Leading condition monitoring specialists, WearCheck, help boost machinery lifespan and reduce catastrophic component failure through the scientific...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
