South Africa cannot afford commuter rail to fail!

Commuter rail is a key aspect of any strategic public transport network. “We cannot afford for commuter rail in South Africa to fail,” says James Anafi, market sector lead: rail, Africa at AECOM.

Anafi reveals that 2019 National Household Travel Survey (NHHTS) statistics for Gauteng, the country’s largest economic hub, showed a huge decline in the commuter rail market share compared to 2014, as indicated in the table below:

Even before 2014, the commuter rail modal share had already declined from previous years due to a drop in service quality and related aspects such as reliability, punctuality, and passenger security. The Covid-19 pandemic further severely impacted commuter rail services after 2020, to the point of being almost non-operational.

Commuter rail generally is a very efficient mode for transport passengers in dense and high-volume commuting corridors. Due to its efficiency, commuter rail in most instances is also more affordable to both government and passengers, despite its reliance on subsidies.

Consecutive travel surveys also indicate that larger and larger portions of household disposable income is being spent on transport, with transport affordability declining and many commuters even being forced to walk unacceptably long distances to work, due to not being able to afford any motorised transport modes.

Commuter rail CAN work!

If well managed and operated, commuter rail can be reliable and travel times quite predictable, as rail has its own right of way and is unaffected by congestion, unlike road-based public transport modes. Given the major contribution that transportation makes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the promotion of commuter rail as a more sustainable mode is important.  

Globally trusted infrastructure consulting firm AECOM has significant experience and expertise in the rail sector in Africa. Globally, it is currently ranked #1 in terms of transit rail, with major projects such as Neom in Saudi Arabia and the California High-Speed Rail programme in the US.

AECOM has also worked on the feasibility of the Ethiopia-Sudan Railway, a proposed 1,522km standard gauge railway that will connect Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Port Sudan on the Sudanese Red Sea coast. AECOM became involved after the sponsors – African Development Bank and the Ethiopian government – approved funding for the feasibility study, which was completed in December 2022.

“We have done quite a bit of work around sustainable transport. The revitalisation and role of rail is quite a prevalent issue in South Africa at the moment. Here there are two aspects, namely: commuter rail and its diminishing role, and freight rail and its impact on economic growth,” says Chris Britz, director: transportation and leader of the Transportation Business Line in Africa at AECOM.

“The planning and strategic notion that a rail network needs to form the backbone of your public transport system is commendable, but currently this is definitely not the case in South Africa,” he adds.

Anafi points out that South African cities are still growing quite rapidly. By 2025, Johannesburg and Cape Town are expected to grow by over 20% compared to 2011. To transport all these people within an urban context in a sustainable manner requires a high capacity, high efficiency transportation mode, namely: a strong, capable commuter rail system.

Omitting commuter rail from the transport equation results in an unbalanced sector, says William Makwela, a railway designer at AECOM. It has resulted in the predominance of the minibus taxi industry, which currently transports 80% of public transport passengers in the country. Its lack of regulation has caused a range of social issues, whereas if it had been allowed to develop in conjunction with commuter rail, it would have been much more integrated and controlled than it is now. “Transport is part of our everyday lives, but not a lot of people are really aware of the significance of it, especially rail,” notes Makwela.

Commuter rail ticks all the boxes in terms of the environment, society, and the economy in many “First World” countries. “For South Africa to achieve a similar level, we must place more emphasis on our commuter rail system,” stresses Salita Wudraj, another of AECOM’s railway designers.

Rail to be the backbone of transport

Government is committed to making commuter rail the backbone of urban public transport in South Africa and improving efficiency and sustainability. In light of the 2021 National White Paper on Transport Policy and the National Rail Policy, rail is envisaged as an affordable, competitive, integrated, reliable, safe, and sustainable transport mode that will be the backbone of South Africa’s freight logistics and passenger mobility systems by 2050.

“Whether or not government’s goal of 2050 is feasible depends on what is required to get there,” cautions Britz. National rail policy aims to transform passenger rail through new investments in infrastructure and separating infrastructure ownership and operations; the national Department of Transport (DoT) is currently preparing a National Rail Plan to guide new investment in rail.

The White Paper calls for the commuter rail function to be devolved either to provinces or to transport authorities at a provincial level in Gauteng’s case or at a local level in Cape Town. As an indication of commuter rail’s true potential, Britz points to its previous dominance compared to the 5% of the public transport market share now held by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

The DoT is also currently compiling a National Devolution Strategy to guide the devolution of rail functions, which should be completed by mid-2024. PRASA, meanwhile, is busy with a rebuild-and-recovery programme of its existing commuter lines: restoring services in addition to its ongoing train replacement programme for 600 new electric multiple units(EMUs).

AECOM remains highly supportive of the development of an efficient commuter rail system in South Africa, especially the mooted expansion of the Gautrain network. “It also aligns well with our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy, called Sustainable Legacies,” says Anafi.

This strategy ensures AECOM embeds ESG principles into everything it does: from the way it runs its business to the work it carries out in partnership with its clients. It includes limiting the company’s carbon footprint, including in its projects. “The development and active use of a low-emission transport mode like commuter rail goes a long way to reduce transportation’s carbon footprint,” says Anafi.

He calls for a renewed focus on expanding and improving commuter rail to enhance the quality of life for all, emphasising: “More efficient and reliable transportation cuts across all sectors. If you have a better transportation system, everybody in South Africa benefits.”

Revitalisation of existing infrastructure vital

Britz notes that there have been huge investments in rail infrastructure and services over the years. “The low-hanging fruit is to revitalise, reinstate, and improve on what one has. That will give us a basis for a properly integrated and functional public transport system in future,” he says.

Anafi adds that private participation needs to be encouraged to revitalise commuter rail, as government alone cannot come up with all the necessary funding and expertise. “Any restoration programme must focus on high demand corridors to provide a good, reliable, and competitive service that then begins to bring high impact and confidence into the sector, so that people start seeing it as a viable option,” he elaborates.

Added benefits include the socioeconomic and local community development aspects associated with commuter rail expansion and operation. “A major problem is vandalism and theft. If we uplift communities as part of the commuter rail network, they will have a sense of ownership of this vital infrastructure and the need to preserve it for future generations,” Anafi points out.

Britz adds that the institutional model around passenger rail service provision must be addressed. “A proper concessionary structure is necessary to oversee quality and efficiency. Therefore, we need to look at the institutional arrangements in place in terms of roles and responsibilities. That is a fundamental basis for more effective and efficient provision of commuter rail services,” he concludes.