The open access proposal announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in October to allow private operators to run trains on the Transnet network is an opportunity to move freight such as containers, agricultural products and hazardous chemicals off the road.
This, transport experts say, would not take existing business away from Transnet, but would help ease the pressure of trucks on the road.
The proposal is contained in a 2017 draft white paper on national transport policy that still has to be ratified by the government. Ramaphosa said draft legislation to allow this "could be finalised within six months".
Jamie Holley, CEO of private locomotive and rail operating company Traxtion Africa, said they were not looking to compete with Transnet's existing freight flows.
"The overriding point of this policy shift is that it's a very rare win-win for government. Zero privatisation is required in order to roll this out."
It would also be a valuable opportunity for places such as the Ceres fruit-growing region, where Transnet and a private company joined forces to operate fruit trains in 2016.
The fruit trains out of the Ceres valley, a partnership between the Ceres Rail Company (CRC) and line owner Transnet, marked the first time in nearly three decades that a privately operated freight train had run in SA.
"What made the Ceres project something that could work was the export traffic," said transport consultant and former railway investor Allen Jorgensen.
The line carried about seven trains a month during the fruit season, said Transnet spokesperson Mike Asefovitz.
Despite winning a Transnet award for innovation, however, by the end of 2019 the trains had stopped running and CRC - which also had the rights to operate a steam-hauled tourist train - was placed into business rescue.
Transnet confirmed that CRC had appointed global logistics company DSV to handle freight operations but declined to say why the trains had stopped running.
Hans Klopper, whose firm BDO is handling the rescue effort, said the process is almost complete. "We have had the successful adoption of a rescue plan," he said. "We are now waiting for certain conditions to be fulfilled."
The Ceres concession was one of only a handful awarded by Transnet since it announced in 2010 that it would begin concessioning its non-core rail routes to private freight operators.
The plan was in line with the government's promise to help shift freight from road to rail to ease congestion and reduce the number of heavy trucks on SA's roads.
There were few takers, however, and trucking companies continued to cash in on millions of tons of freight that used to travel by rail.
"The imbalance between road and rail is just too big at the moment," said professor Jackie Walters, head of the transport and supply chain management department at the University of Johannesburg.
"I think there are only four hours a day when the number of cars exceeds the number of trucks on the N3," said Walters. "It's a terrible road to be on."
The lack of a clear, coherent rail transport policy has deterred potential operators and investors, he said. "There's no real rail policy in SA. At the moment Transnet is the policymaker, the investor, the operator, everything. You need a rail policy for investments and future strategies."
Transnet's 2010 concessioning programme generated little enthusiasm as many lines on offer were in poor condition.
"Anyone who enters into a concession with Transnet will have to rehabilitate and reinvest in them," said Walters. "Then they're going to have to get the money back from the cargo they move on them. That return will not be easy."
One of the biggest problems for potential private rail operators is that they have to fund their own track maintenance while road repairs are mostly paid for by the state.
This was one of the factors behind the demise of the 122km KwaZulu-Natal narrow-gauge railway Jorgensen and his partners took over in 1986.
Renamed the Alfred County Railway, its main cargo was timber from the forests around Harding bound for the Sappi pulpwood plant at Umkomaas. But the trains were slow and the timber had to be transshipped to standard gauge wagons at Port Shepstone, adding delays.
The railway steadily lost business to trucks and the line closed in 2004.
The unlevel playing fields between road and rail transport would have to be fixed for private rail operators to stand a chance, said Jorgensen.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.