News / National
NRZ rehabilitation to take 20 years
26 Apr 2017 at 03:52hrs | Views
The rehabilitation of the troubled National Railways of Zimbabwe's 2800km rail infrastructure is expected to take about 20 years amid hopes that its
revival will boost business and international trade.
Economic and political analyst Vince Musewe said according to experts, the rehabilitation of the entire NRZ line would take about twenty years to
complete and this would employ a huge number of our young unemployed folk.
"In addition, the steel required would result in huge benefits to our steel companies. In order to rehabilitate our railway system, we will also need
new rolling stock, the repair of signalling systems, massive training of technicians and competent management at the top," he said.
"We would also need our industry to come on board and make use of rail transport more as opposed to road transport, resulting in massive savings
on road maintenance and trade costs. This would, of course, also relieve pressure and costs at our border posts and improve the flow of goods in and out of the country."
He said the railway system which is hugely underutilised and neglected and yet it remains an incredible economic asset for the country going forward.
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) was established in 1897 and we have about 2,800 km of rail which needs to be replaced as it has exceeded its 30 year life span.
"It was originally designed to ferry a capacity of 18 million tons of goods per annum and employed 23,000 people full time at its peak. In 2007, for
example, it ferried a total of an estimated 17 million passengers per annum. Sadly it is currently operating at a mere 15% of its potential
capacity if not less," he said.
"On the freight side, in 1990, the total amount of freight carried by rail was 14.3 million tons, which translated into a capacity utilization rate of
about 80% compared to the current 2 million tons per annum and reducing."
revival will boost business and international trade.
Economic and political analyst Vince Musewe said according to experts, the rehabilitation of the entire NRZ line would take about twenty years to
complete and this would employ a huge number of our young unemployed folk.
"In addition, the steel required would result in huge benefits to our steel companies. In order to rehabilitate our railway system, we will also need
new rolling stock, the repair of signalling systems, massive training of technicians and competent management at the top," he said.
"We would also need our industry to come on board and make use of rail transport more as opposed to road transport, resulting in massive savings
on road maintenance and trade costs. This would, of course, also relieve pressure and costs at our border posts and improve the flow of goods in and out of the country."
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) was established in 1897 and we have about 2,800 km of rail which needs to be replaced as it has exceeded its 30 year life span.
"It was originally designed to ferry a capacity of 18 million tons of goods per annum and employed 23,000 people full time at its peak. In 2007, for
example, it ferried a total of an estimated 17 million passengers per annum. Sadly it is currently operating at a mere 15% of its potential
capacity if not less," he said.
"On the freight side, in 1990, the total amount of freight carried by rail was 14.3 million tons, which translated into a capacity utilization rate of
about 80% compared to the current 2 million tons per annum and reducing."
Source - Byo24News
