Keynote Address at the Eastern Cape Rail Conference by Mr Jeff Radebe Minister of Transport Eastern Cape

Programme Director
Honourable Premier of the Eastern Cape, Ms. Balindlela
Honourable MEC of Transport, Mr Mhlahlo
Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Metro, Councillor Maphazi
Members of the Provincial Legislature
The Captains of the Rail Industry
Delegates
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen

It is my honour and privilege to address this conference. I particularly want to thank the MEC Thobile Mhlahlo for his vision in convening the Provincial Rail Conference, and his departmental staff for the hard work in bringing this Conference to fruition.

Distinguished guests, the status of rail transportation cannot be overemphasised as it continues to play a significant role in South Africa's economic growth. The challenge we are facing is how to adjust our rail systems so as to respond to our new economic challenges. We need to remind ourselves that if rail transportation does not enjoy the confidence of the public at large, congestion will strangle our metropolitan areas and hurt South Africa's productivity.

It is precisely for this reason that my key remarks this morning are to highlight the major strides our government has made in transforming the rail systems specifically in relation to the freight logistics system, the passenger rail and as well as the rail safety and security regime. I would also use this opportunity to highlight a few pointers for the discussions that would unfold during this conference.

Quite frankly, we are all aware that the role of Rail transportation is to provide a platform through which the movement of people and goods enhances economic productivity and trade. It is however disturbing that the very same rail transport has been marred for many years by aging rail networks infrastructure, lack of investment and a decreased volume of freight it transports.

We have had to develop the National Freight Logistics Strategy as a blue print for an urgent need to increase investment and optimise rail transportation. The aim was to improve the freight logistics system in ensuring the efficient movement of goods and increased tonnes of rail volumes compared to road - as well as reversing the shift from road to rail, particularly of cargoes that should otherwise be moved by rail.

The Freight strategy has also identified specific projects to address the reform of the rail sector in order to achieve the following:

* vertical separation of Infrastructure and operations
* multiple public and private commercial operators
* open access on secondary networks
* mandatory access on primary networks.

As I stand before you, the national departments of Transport and Public Enterprises as well as the Transnet Freight Rail are already in the process of finalising the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to transfer to the Department of Transport three clusters of rail lines such the Tourism rail lines, branch lines and no service rail lines.

Parallel to this, we have also begun a process of establishing a Rail Economic Regulator (RER). We believe that the Regulator will help government to deal with the inability of the railways to respond to immediate customer requirements. It will also help to establish appropriate institutional and regulatory structures to prevent pricing abuse in captive markets, ensure fair conditions for inter-modal and intra-modal competition as well as create an environment for private sector participation in the rail sector. A draft Rail Economic Regulator Framework has already been completed and we will soon engage various key stakeholders for consultation purposes.

Distinguished guests, our Freight Logistics strategy have also been a corner stone in supporting the integration of marginalised local economies with the main logistics corridors. The question we've tried to answer is how to improve the efficiency of our corridors and rail capacity for an improved performance of our economies.

Our Strategy has been able to garner a huge increase in traffic, volumes and changes in the nature of rail freight cargo particularly with huge improvements to the rail infrastructure and rolling stock driven by unprecedented Government funding. Our freight strategy further supports freight rail transport, especially in areas that have been neglected but are demonstrating a strong case and sustenance of local economies, especially those areas that are geographically isolated from the rest.

We have embarked on an initiative to revitalise the Branch-lines across the country. This gives weight to our government's commitment to the Priority Corridor Strategy, where we would balance the socio-economic planning objectives on rail existing strengths. This would further allow the cross-cutting between rural and urban areas and overcome the urban bias to development.

A perfect example of a project that falls within this category is the Kei rail line which we officially launched in the Eastern Cape province, on 1 March 2008. Its operational license was issued by the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) on 5 February 2008, to ensure the promotion of safe railway operations and to facilitate a modern, flexible and efficient regulatory regime.

As part of the Kei development corridor, the multimillion Kei rail project was launched in 2003 and its aim was to improve the province's economy and decrease the number of heavy vehicles on the roads. Built in the 1900s, the 281km stretch of rail between East London and Mtata had been dormant for many years but through the strategic intervention of government's Integrated Planning, it has now been revitalised. Such other projects would include Enkwalini line in KwaZullu-Natal as well as Douglas-Belmont line in the Northern Cape.

This brings me to the social role of rail transport being to provide our people with mobility and access to social services and economic opportunities. One of our biggest achievements has been the development of the National Passenger Rail Plan which was approved by Cabinet in November 2006.

Our rail plan is driven by a stronger need for full recovery to restore the whole rail network. Secondly, limited system with the intention to close all but efficient lines/routes and lastly priority rail corridors in order to balance the socio-economic planning objectives on rail's existing strengths.

I am proud to announce that major work has already been achieved as part of our Rail Plan. In 2006, we began a process of consolidation of the various entities currently engaged in the long-distance and local commuter rail services such as Metrorail, Shosholoza Meyl, and the South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC).

The first phase of the consolidation of Metrorail into SARCC was completed in 2006. I'm glad to announce that on 1 April 2008, we completed the second phase of the consolidation process with the transfer of Shosholoza Meyl to SARCC. This has allowed the SARCC to deliver long distance and regional services effectively using Shosholoza Meyl which has a critical role in unleashing the development potential of our rural people.

Through the consolidation, the role of the Shosholoza Meyl will go beyond long distance services and include regional services within Provinces such as the new services between the areas of Mtata and East London. It will also play a major role in the preparations for 2010 Fifa World Cup particularly for the transportation of spectators.

Planning for future corridors that are showing a strong case for the role of rail is also of paramount importance. By now, most of you should be aware of the Moloto Rail Corridor Development Initiative, which was approved by cabinet in March 2008. For those who are not aware this is an initiative which institutionally belongs to the Mpumalanga government but through our government's integration systems, involves quite a number of stakeholders.

A detailed feasibility study for the project aimed at the design and feasibility of a new integrated multi-modal transport system was conducted and completed in 2007. The corridor study area transverses three provinces such as Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng and nine districts, metropolitan and local municipalities;

This initiative consists of two components namely; to review the transport system not only to solve the commuter problem but also to establish an economic activity spine to stimulate the local economic development. Passenger rail service continues to be a national competency even though the SARCC is working very closely with Metros and other municipalities to ensure delivery of rail services in a manner that supports their integrated transport plans.
Through the SARCC, the national Department of Transport has funded infrastructure and rolling stock projects to address the damage caused by many decades of under investment in rail passenger transport.

Government has committed R16 billion over the next three years to upgrade both rolling stock and infrastructure over the next three years. In that regard, we will be in a position to effectively respond to existing and future passenger demands. We have for instance set a target of peak frequencies of 5 to 10 minutes particularly for rail service by 2010. Our plan is to ensure that by 2010, there is a train available every five minutes during peak periods. We will need to ensure that train services are available for at least 14 to 16 hours a day.

Our rail approach is also focused not only on playing a socio economic role in providing accessibility to work and other services for lower income groups, but to all the other sectors of our communities whose usage of the rail passenger service would relieve our roads from road accidents and congestion.

Examples of these are the Soweto Express and the Khayelitsha Express launched in 2007, as well as the Business Express to be launched on Thursday between Tshwane and Johannesburg. These initiatives recognise that the passenger rail service is and should not be a service for only the poor. Middle and higher income groups have a strong demand for safe and reliable services with strong emphasis on product offerings for speed, comfort and convenience. We are on a journey to transform the South African rail passenger services into a mode that is capable to deliver a quality service to all South Africans irrespective of social status, class and background.

The timing for the introduction of the Express is also very opportune given the preparations for the World Cup. The Express will be used particularly to transport visitors to the games for the World Cup. We expect that the Express will also be deployed effectively by Metrorail as part of our transport operations plan for both the Confederation Cup in 2009 and ultimately the games in 2010.

As you are aware, the SARCC is investing more than R2 billion in the construction of stations as part of the 2010 preparations. The work is also underway for the construction of the R25bn Gautrain Rapid Rail Link as part of our preparations for the Soccer World Cup and the SARCC is involved in the integration of commuter rail with the Gautrain.

This brings me to the major progress that we have made in terms of safety and security in the railway environment. Through the Rail Safety Regulator we have put in place a sound railway safety regime. We already have appropriate safety regulations and standards in place. The regulator is also ensuring that operators develop sound safety management systems, conducts safety audits and inspections, as well as occurrence and incidence investigations.

We have also made major strides through SARCC and SAPS to improve security in our rail environment. We are on course to deploy 5 000 SAPS Rail personnel in our passenger rail system by 2010. We have already introduced more than 1700 police personnel in our rail system. There is already evidence that visible policing within the rail environment has led to a decrease in reported crimes by 13% in 2007/2008 as compared to the years 2006/07. I am confident that this kind of improvements will continue to promote a safe and reliable rail service. Furthermore, these initiatives will allow our rail service operators to win their battle against cable theft which, at times renders them ineffective and causes financial losses.

We must however be mindful of the fact that as a Country we have recognized that rail, more than any other mode, has a stake in creating inter-modal transportation centres. If we want people to leave their cars, we have to make it easy to move from one mode of transportation to another. Intermodal connections are critical to mobility and critical to rail success. The issues - and the solutions are numerous. And they must be tackled not only at the national level, but community by community, customer by customer. I challenge this conference to look at solutions for this integration.

I believe that public transportation is not about trains and buses and tracks and roads. It's about people. And, the more we focus our attention on the people we serve, the closer we will get to achieving our vision of public transportation as the mode of choice in South Africa. More than ever before rail is serving as a catalyst for expanding economic growth and trade, and for improving the quality of life for all South Africans. This illuminate a basic fact about our rail sector that for every R1 billion invested in rail projects expenditures, estimated thousands of jobs are generated nationwide.

This Conference must therefore deliberate on missing rail infrastructure links as well as ways of securing adequate and predictable funding for investment in the Nation's rail system particularly for rural development. Such inquisitions on missing rail links must be informed by the quest to provide public transport solutions to our people as opposed to creating public transport first and then try to forcefully fit our people into it regardless of the value it brings to them. In addition, rail links must be informed by the projected economic growth into the future, as these are lasting investments on infrastructure that would serve our economy and people for many decades to come.

We also need to enhance security and safety by providing the means and mechanisms to perform risk assessment and analysis and to develop appropriate response capabilities. These core principles will enhance the safety and security of all South Africans, even as we increase their mobility, reduce congestion, and grow the economy.

Like all other modes of transport, rail transport must play its role optimally if we are to have an overall efficient and effective transport system for goods and our people. Therefore, rail must not be tackled as competitor to road or air travel, but as complementary to an overall transport system for our economy and its people, hence I have emphasised the critical role of inter-modal connections in order to attain efficiency at all levels.

Let us therefore treat this Conference as a moment of great opportunity an opportunity to work together in crafting solutions and transforming our rail systems to become a legacy for generations to come. In so doing, I believe we will indeed find ourselves 'back to rail' as the theme of this Conference demands of us. Once again, thank you for the opportunity to address you this morning, and I hope you enjoy this important and very timely conference.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Transport
6 May 2008