Celebrating the progress of the countries rail transport plans on Friday 20 September, President Jacob Zuma inspected the Balfour railway line construction site in Mpumalanga.

Zuma said during his visit, “We are witnessing progress in the implementation of the Transnet plan to migrate freight volumes to rail. As part of the solution Transnet is re-instating the Grootvlei-Balfour railway line to initially transport three million tons of coal per annum to the Grootvlei power station.”

“This line contributes to our road-to-rail migration plan which is intended to protect the road network. It makes business sense to move to rail as rail transport is cheaper. Despite this advantage, rail transportation has over the last decade declined by almost 12% whilst road transport has almost doubled. Shifting from road to rail will also ease traffic congestion and reduce carbon emissions.”

“I would like to congratulate the management and workers for the hard work and progress being made on the Grootvlei-Balfour railway project.”