The Department of Transport says that work is still progressing on the government’s plans to introduce high-speed train systems to the country.

Responding to a written parliamentary Q&A, the department noted that its high-speed rail (HSR) framework is still in the works.

The framework forms part of the National Rail Policy that was adopted by cabinet in March 2022.

“Drawing its policy direction from the National Rail Policy, the HSR framework provides the foundation for the prioritisation of HSR corridors in the country,” it said.

The department said the framework identifies the HSR objectives and the criteria for prioritising and ranking potential HSR corridors in the country.

Regarding the current status of the framework, the department said that the next step is for feasibility studies to be conducted on prioritised HSR corridors. However, this is contingent on approvals and funding being secured.

Bullet train dreams

The government’s fixation on high-speed trains dates back to president Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2019 state of the nation address, where he dreams of South African cities filled with skyscrapers and connected by bullet trains.

“We should imagine a country where bullet trains pass through Johannesburg as they travel from here to Musina, and they stop in Buffalo City on their way from Ethekwini back here.”

“Has the time not arrived to build a new smart city founded on the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution? I would like to invite South Africans to begin imagining this prospect,” Ramaphosa said at the time.

However, contrary to the government’s lofty ambitions, South Africa’s rail networks have gone in the opposite direction, being virtually unusable for passenger transport and heavily crippled for heavy haul and freight.

The railway lines themselves have been besieged by criminals and stripped bare, leading to the government being forced to ban the export of scrap metal to disincentivise the theft.

The country’s deteriorating rail network has been flagged as an economic disaster on par with Eskom’s power crisis, leaving ports hamstrung and causing untold damage to other transport networks – such as roads – as they are forced to absorb the lost capacity.

The National Rail Policy also aims to address these issues.

Under the policy, the transport department wants to fast-track funds into rail sector investment to initiate a ‘railway renaissance’ in the country by developing high-speed and heavy haul transit.

The new policy will also, according to the department, allow for passenger/commuter lines to be commissioned where the current Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) cannot meet demand.

Speaking on high-speed rail (HSR), the department said in October 2022 that it plans to provide the foundation for the prioritisation of high-speed corridors in South Africa.

Under the HSR Framework, the department said it will determine the strategic objectives that need to be considered, namely:

• The pairing of certain cities together and the impacts this could have;
• The size of populations in certain metros and the existing transit systems;
• The distance, connections and levels of possible congestion;
• A forecast for passenger volumes and financial feasibility.

To fund these plans, the department said in October that respective spheres of government may apply funds to rail investments to the extent they are able to.

Beyond that the responsible authority may engage other interested entities to co-fund passenger services and or attract private sector participation.

The government is currently in the process of finalising a strategy to allow provincial governments to take over the running of passenger rail. The City of Cape Town said this week that the transport department has committed to gazetting a ‘Devolution Strategy’ in 2023 to allow for this.

This is also one of the commitments made in the National Rail Policy that has been adopted by cabinet.

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Read: Plans for new high-speed trains in South Africa