Situma: most of SA's railway line is a liability

Situma, who is also National Transport Masterplan 2050 project manager, said that a large portion of the once vibrant network of branch lines had now been closed, and was, in fact, redundant.

South Africa's network consisted largely of the narrow Cape gauge, at a width of 106 mm and, according to Situma, modernising South Africa's remaining strategic railway lines would "cost more" than building new lines on a 1435mm standard gauge. He added that the African Union was advocating the use of standard gauge on the continent, in order to enhance trade interconnectivity between countries.

Speaking at the conference on 'Very High Speed Trains: The possibilities for South Africa', hosted in Johannesburg by French business development agency UbiFrance South Africa, Situma Said that modernising the line between Durban and Johannesburg - with this corridor currently the subject of a high-speed rail study - could prove impossible, because the right of way was too narrow in places, as are many tunnels, and some corners are too sharp for the implementation of standard gauge, Engineering News reports.

Read the full article on www.engineeringnews.co.za.