Let’s get back on track

THE stalemate over the fate of the George-Knysna railway corridor is heading for its 10th anniversary since storm damage in 2006 saw the railway abandoned by Transnet. The subsequent neglect of a unique, precious and valuable asset to the region and the country is deplorable.

In November last year a promised announcement did not materialise. If it was true the line is to be repaired and re-opened to rail traffic then questions arise, as it is said to be based on a need to get heavy trucks off the N2, a need to cart refuse from Plettenberg Bay to a dump site beyond Mossel Bay and that the return of the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe would be a great tourist attraction. If authorities do intend reopening the railway, which is a public asset, they have a duty to explain how they arrived at the decision.

Heavy trucks on the N2 travel long distance. The railway would need to extend from Knysna to Port Elizabeth to get that custom. The cost of carting refuse 200km in special rolling stock that has to be brought back empty will place an escalating financial burden on local ratepayers. The Choo-Tjoe was abandoned in 2007 because it required an annual subsidy of R10 million for it to survive on tracks it didn’t have to maintain.

The economy of this region is based on tourism and that would be the best possible use of the corridor.

Let me repeat a four-point proposal before this wonderful opportunity is lost.

1. In the 1970s few could see there was much to be gained by encouraging the use of bicycles. The Cape Argus cautiously agreed to assist by giving support to a novel event that has subsequently transformed the way we think about bicycling and that now brings several hundred million rand into Cape Town each year and is used by the city to promote Cape Town internationally. Similar events are now staged annually around the country and all offer car-safe cycling conditions.

But we have yet to provide attractive car-safe conditions open to cyclists every day of the year. The great difficulty is in finding continuous corridors between towns that serve both commuters and tourists. The conversion of the GeorgeKnysna corridor as a dedicated cycleway, extended to Nature’s Valley, would rapidly become a major South African tourist attraction with numerous benefits for users and the economy of the region.

2. Capital needed to transport refuse 200km would better invested in ZeroWaste technology that creates local green jobs and turns waste into profit.

3. Working examples of old steam trains attract tourists. A privately operated steam park visible from the N2 where visitors could go for rides in an old steam train, visit an exhibition of steam trains, go for rides on the line using rail bikes and pomp-trollies, eat at a restaurant and buy memorabilia from a shop could be profitable. A railway line around Groenvlei near Sedgefield would be picturesque.

4. It’s important to note that much of the George-Knysna corridor is on private land expropriated for the purpose of operating a railway as a public facility. This condition could be met with an overhead solar-powered personal rapid transportation system. It could extend to the George airport and to Plettenberg Bay, be a great tourist attraction and get traffic off the N2.