UNDER Transnet’s proposed new tariff regime, it will cost 2.5 times more to use rail than a truck from Cape Town to Johannesburg.
If the same methodology were applied to roads, trucks would pay about R17 500 in statutory charges – fuel levies, tolls, and licence fees.
That’s clearly unsustainable, as customers have repeatedly told the state-owned rail and logistics provider. With debt now more than R130 billion, this tariff is deemed necessary for Transnet to trade its way out of its financial hole without relying on government support, infrastructure investment by the private sector, or a state plan for dealing with debt incurred as a result of state capture.