{{Short description|Railway operator in South Africa}} {{Use South African English|date=November 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Infobox company |name = Transnet Freight Rail |logo = Transnet Freight Rail logo.gif |type = [[Subsidiary]] |predecessor = Spoornet |founded = 1910 |founder = |defunct = |hq_location_city = [[Johannesburg]] |hq_location_country= South Africa |num_locations = |area_served = |key_people = Ravi Nair ([[Chief Executive Officer|CEO]]) |industry = [[Rail transport]] |revenue = ca. [[South African rand|R]]14 billion |revenue_year = 2006 |operating_income = |income_year = |net_income = |net_income_year = |num_employees = ca. 25,000 |num_employees_year = |parent = [[Transnet]] |divisions = |website = {{URL|https://www.transnet.net//}}}}

'''Transnet Freight Rail''' is a [[Rail transport in South Africa|South African rail transport]] company, formerly known as '''Spoornet'''. It was part of the [[South 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 in [[Afrikaans]]). Customer complaints about serious problems with Transnet Freight Rail's service were reported in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.railwaysafrica.com/blog/2010/10/concerns-over-rail-freight-service/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321075258/http://www.railwaysafrica.com/blog/2010/10/concerns-over-rail-freight-service/|archive-date=21 March 2012|access-date=2010-10-17 |title=Concerns over Rail Freight service | publisher = [[Railways Africa]] }}</ref> Its head office is in Inyanda House in [[Parktown]], [[Johannesburg]].<ref>"[http://www.transnetfreightrail.co.za/Website/contact_us.html Contact Us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723144500/http://www.transnetfreightrail.co.za/Website/contact_us.html |date=23 July 2013 }}." Transnet Freight Rail. Retrieved on 15 April 2013. "Physical Address Inyanda House 15 Girton Road Parktown 2193"</ref>

== History == [[File:Central South African Railways map 1910.svg|thumb|right|350px|Rail network of the Central South African Railways in 1910, immediately before the creation of the [[Union of South Africa]]]] 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://globalview.uic.asso.fr/cd-rom3_sans/transnet_background.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-11-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229083130/http://globalview.uic.asso.fr/cd-rom3_sans/transnet_background.pdf |archive-date=29 December 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

The '''Central South African Railways''' ('''CSAR''') was from 1902 to 1910 the operator of public railways in the [[Transvaal Colony]] and [[Orange River Colony]] in what is now [[South Africa]]. During the [[Anglo-Boer War]], as British forces moved into the territory of the [[Orange Free State]] and the [[South African Republic]], the Orange Free State Government Railways, the [[Netherlands-South African Railway Company]] and the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway were taken over by the Imperial Military Railways under Lieutenant-Colonel Sir [[Percy Girouard]]. After the war had ended, the Imperial Military Railways became the Central South African Railways in July 1902,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Latest Intelligence - The Peace - Progress of the Settlement|date=7 July 1902 |page=5 |issue=36813}}</ref> with Thomas Rees Price as general manager.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Latest Intelligence - The Railway administration|date=12 August 1902 |page=3 |issue=36844}}</ref> With the creation of the [[Union of South Africa]] in 1910, the CSAR was merged with the [[Cape Government Railways]] and the [[Natal Government Railways]] to form the [[South African Railways]], which is now Transnet Freight Rail.

As part of a project to reform the rail freight sector, Transnet's rail infrastructure manager responsibilities were separated from Transnet Freight Rail and placed under the control of Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager (TIMM). TIMM signed operating agreements in May 2026 with 11 private sector companies to access the national rail network. The selected operators are ARC South Africa, Barberry, [[Grindrod Rail]], Interlinks, IRACEMA, Menar Ports & Rail, Minrail, Motheo Logistics, The Railway Corporation, Sharp Logistics and TLD Marine.<ref>[https://www.ecofinagency.com/news-infrastructures/1605-55637-south-africa-advances-rail-liberalization-with-11-private-freight-operators South Africa Advances Rail Liberalization With 11 Private Freight Operators] ''[[Ecofin Agency]]'' 16 May 2026</ref><ref>[https://www.railjournal.com/freight/transnet-opens-network-to-competition/ Transnet opens network to competition] ''[[International Railway Journal]]'' 20 May 2026</ref>

==Operations== Transnet Freight Rail is a freight logistics and passenger transport railway. It is the largest freight hauler in Africa. The company comprises several businesses:

*GFB Commercial (General Freight Business) – Transnet's largest division; handles over 50% of its freight; *Coal Line, serving [[coal]] exporters on the [[Mpumalanga]] – [[Richards Bay]] line; second largest coal railway in the world, delivering 62 million tonnes of coal (also known as "Black Gold") in the year ending on 31 March 2010;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.railwaysafrica.com/blog/2010/10/tfr-reports-record-coal-figs/ |access-date=2010-10-18 |title=TFR reports record coal figures |publisher = Railways Africa }}</ref> *[[Sishen–Saldanha railway line|Ore Export Line]] – dedicated to [[iron ore]] transport on the [[Sishen mine|Sishen]] to [[Saldanha Bay|Saldanha]] line; * [[Luxrail]] – The operation of the [[Blue Train (South Africa)|Blue Train]], which is designed as a [[five-star hotel]] on wheels.

Transnet also formerly owned [[Shosholoza Meyl]], the non-luxury long-distance passenger rail service. Shosholoza Meyl was transferred to the [[Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa]] on 23 December 2008. A line in the [[Eastern Cape]] is leased to [[Kei Rail]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.janes.com/articles/Janes-World-Railways/Kei-Rail-South-Africa.html|access-date=2010-10-19|title=Kei Rail (South Africa) – Jane's World Railways}}</ref>

==Business units== Transnet Freight Rail is divided into 6 [[business unit]]s:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spoornet.co.za/Website/home.html|access-date=2012-08-09|title=TFR Media Releases }}</ref>

*Agriculture and Bulk Liquids ("ABL") *Coal Business Unit (Coal Line) *Intermodal (Container) and Automotive Business Unit ("CAB") (Johannesburg-Durban Line) *Iron Ore and Manganese Business Unit (Kimberley-Port Elizabeth & [[Ore Export Line]] *Mineral Mining and Chrome Business Unit ("MMC") (Witbank-Komatipoort & Phalaborwa-Komatipoort Lines) *Steel and Cement Business Unit ("SAC")

The launch of the business units took place in a company wide event for all managerial staff on 18 April 2012.

==Links to neighbouring countries== [[File:South Africa rail network map.svg|thumb|right|The South African rail network]] The Transnet rail network is linked to all of South Africa's neighbouring countries: :[[TransNamib]] of [[Namibia]], at [[Nakop]]; :[[Botswana Railways]] at [[Ramatlabama]]; :[[National Railways of Zimbabwe]] and the [[Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway]] at [[Beitbridge]]; :[[Mozambique Ports and Railways]] at [[Ressano Garcia]]; :[[Eswatini Railways]] of [[Eswatini]] at [[Golela]] and [[Mananga]]; :[[Maseru]] in [[Lesotho]] on the [[Maseru branch line]] (owned by Transnet).

==Ongoing projects== *[[Maputo Corridor]]: Transnet Freight Rail is developing a plan with the [[Railroad Development Corporation]] to transport [[magnetite]] from [[Phalaborwa]] to [[Maputo]] as feedstock for a proposed [[steel]] plant in Maputo. *In May 2010, [[Transnet]] revealed a five-year-plan involving rail projects costing R52Bn. Most of this would be spent on new rolling stock, including 304 locomotives and 7,231 wagons. R4Bn would be spent on infrastructure connecting Majuba [[coal-fired power station]] with the Richards Bay freight railway.<ref>{{cite web | title=Transnet five year plan | work=[[Railway Gazette International]]| year=2010 | url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/transnet-five-year-plan.html | access-date=2010-05-15}}</ref> *[[Transnet]] is upgrading the rail corridor which connect the [[Port of Ngqura]] with [[manganese]] mines around [[Hotazel]] in the [[Northern Cape]]. The corridor would be {{convert|1003|km|mi}} long, and would mostly involve upgrades of existing lines; capacity is expected to increase from 5·5 million tonnes / year to 16 mpta.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/freight/single-view/view/transnet-to-expand-heavy-haul-operations.html|access-date=10 June 2013|title=Transnet to expand heavy haul operations |work=[[Railway Gazette International]]}}</ref> *[[Swazilink]] is expected to connect from Lothair to [[Sidvokodvo]] in Eswatini, at a cost of R17 billion.<ref>{{cite news|title=New Swaziland-link line to run in 2017|url=http://www.railwaysafrica.com/blog/2014/06/17/new-swaziland-link-line-run-2017/|access-date=2 July 2014|work=Railways Africa|archive-date=14 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714172815/http://www.railwaysafrica.com/blog/2014/06/17/new-swaziland-link-line-run-2017/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Transnet Freight Rail}} *{{Official website|http://www.transnetfreightrail.co.za}}

[[Category:Railway companies of South Africa]] [[Category:Transnet]]