Transnet Freight Rail, formerly Spoornet, will spend R34-billion over the next five years as part of its turnaround strategy, CEO Siyabonga Gama said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Johannesburg, Gama said the overall turnaround strategy entailed refurbishing and building new railway lines linking the country’s economic centres.
It also included improving morale of workers and customer relations.
In 2005 Spoornet lost R21-million because of most of the train fleet was old and because of a lack of customer orientation.
”Goods trains would be late and no one would explain why trains were late,” he said.
Seventy percent of goods trains were now on time and, as a result, at the end of the previous financial year Spoornet had a profit of R1,8-billion, Gama said. — Sapa