 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Rail transport |
| Predecessor | Spoornet |
| Founded | 1910 |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | |
| Revenue | ca.R14 bn as of 2006[update] |
Number of employees | ca. 25,000 |
| Parent | Transnet |
| Website | www |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Johannesburg |
| Locale | Southern Africa |
| Dates of operation | 1910–present |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) |
Transnet Freight Rail is aSouth African rail transport company, formerly known asSpoornet. It was part of theSouth African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people for decades from the first half of the 20th century and was widely referred to by the initials SAR&H (SAS&H inAfrikaans). Customer complaints about serious problems with Transnet Freight Rail's service were reported in 2010.[1] Its head office is in Inyanda House inParktown,Johannesburg.[2]
Railways were first developed in the area surrounding Cape Town and later in Durban around the 1840s. The first line opened in Durban on 27 June 1850. The initial network was created to serve the agricultural production area between Cape Town and Wellington. The news that there were gold deposits in the Transvaal Republic moved the Cape Colony Government (supported by British Government) to link Kimberley as soon as possible by rail to Cape Town as part of the colonial dream.[3]
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Transnet Freight Rail" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheCentral South African Railways (CSAR) was from 1902 to 1910 the operator of public railways in theTransvaal Colony andOrange River Colony in what is nowSouth Africa. During theAnglo-Boer War, as British forces moved into the territory of theOrange Free State and theSouth African Republic, theOrange Free State Government Railways, theNetherlands-South African Railway Company and thePretoria-Pietersburg Railway were taken over by the Imperial Military Railways under Lieutenant-Colonel SirPercy Girouard. After the war had ended, the Imperial Military Railways became the Central South African Railways in July 1902,[4] with Thomas Rees Price as general manager.[5] With the creation of theUnion of South Africa in 1910, the CSAR was merged with theCape Government Railways and theNatal Government Railways to form theSouth African Railways, which is now Transnet Freight Rail.
Transnet Freight Rail is a freight logistics and passenger transport railway. It is the largest freight hauler inAfrica. The company comprises several businesses:
Transnet also formerly ownedShosholoza Meyl, the non-luxury long-distance passenger rail service. Shosholoza Meyl was transferred to thePassenger Rail Agency of South Africa on 23 December 2008. A line in theEastern Cape is leased toKei Rail.[7]
Transnet Freight Rail is divided into 6 Business Units:[8]
The launch of the Business Units took place in a company wide event for all managerial staff on 18 April 2012.
The Transnet rail network is linked to all of South Africa's neighbouring countries:
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)