Framing a model for rail co-operation
TRANSNET Freight Rail (TFR) and Botswana Railways are slated to start moving two trains a week from Palapye in Botswana to Durban next month in order to export 2-million tons of coal a year.
There are at least two important things about the news. The first is that this will be the first seaborne coal export for Botswana’s fledgling coal mining sector. Coal will become a welcome source of revenue for the country, which has relied too heavily on earnings from its diamond wealth.
Botswana has vast, unexploited coal resources.
The second and more interesting outcome of this coal-railing agreement is that it provides a tangible pretext for TFR and Botswana Railways to work together to manage a twice-weekly, cross-border service.
Like a lot of developmental work it is finicky, incremental and a little “unsexy” — but it is crucial.
The Palapye-Durban coal exports will focus the energy and efforts of the two teams working on this programme to create institutional and policy frameworks.
Botswana Railways and TFR will form a joint operations centre at Mahalapye in Botswana. Work on creating the work streams required to build the institutional and policy frameworks has started.
This will form the institutional base of the North West Corridor programme, which targets trade between Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and SA.
TFR has had success with this approach with the Maputo Corridor, where it works together with Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM) and Swaziland Railways. The Maputo Corridor accounts for 90% of TFR’s cross-border business.
TFR is intent on building on the Maputo Corridor success by replicating the formula on the NorthSouth Corridor, which requires agreement with the railways of Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and SA — a deal nearing conclusion.
Under the agreement with Botswana Railways, the operations centre (still to be formed) will co-ordinate policy to guide the programme development to achieve standardised operating protocols and maintenance scheduling. This includes standardisation ranging from communication and derailment management to driver training. These practical requirements and any success achieving communal standards will provide momentum for the centre to turn its vision to future needs and decisions.
Work will turn to finding the answers to questions, such as what will be moved on the corridor, how much and by when. This will become an iterative process as the relationship deepens and, it is hoped, railway partners in Namibia and Zimbabwe are drawn in.
From this a shared view on the investment needed will emerge. And from this a new set of questions, such as who pays and how? These types of discussions will precipitate institutional changes within rail operators from neighbouring countries which have not had much occasion to plan and invest in rail infrastructure for decades.
Already there is discussion on the possible upgrading of parts of the track to lift the axle-load capacity to TFR’s preferred standard of 26 tons per axle. Botswana Railways runs trains on track with an axle load of 18.5 tons per axle.
Botswana will export more coal in the years to come. A decision on whether to deepen or boost volumes through Durban will have to be made. Given the country’s vast reserves it is possible it may still seek out export points in Mozambique and Namibia. Botswana has talked about the construction of a 1,500km rail link to Walvis Bay and last year a study was done to test the feasibility of railing coal out of Botswana through Maputo along the Limpopo line.
Whether SA loses the future long coal trains from Botswana or not, what will remain is a model for regional co-operation on rail and investment. The prize of a unified railway system with shared standards and goals across three regional corridors that include some of the region’s future economic giants may be worth more.