Transnet Freight Rail’s export Iron Ore line will undergo its annual shutdown on Tuesday 12th August 2014.
The annual shutdown refers to a planned maintenance period when essential maintenance works that cannot take place during normal occupational conditions are performed.
This work is expected to be concluded on Thursday the 21st August 2014 during which specialised infrastructure maintenance and upgrade projects will be conducted over the entire section of the 861 kilometre railway line between Sishen in the Northern Cape and Saldanha in the Western Cape.
This 10 day shutdown is an opportunity that will also be utilised by the mines, Transnet Engineering, Transnet Port Terminals and Eskom to also maintain their plant and equipment which cannot be done in any other period without disrupting operations.
All other employees and personnel not involved in the shutdown will also use the opportunity for training initiatives as well as attending key meetings.
The total planned cost for the shutdown amounts to about R114 million and includes the installation work done by contractors, material and labour cost.
A healthy infrastructure will support efficient railway operations that will allow Transnet Freight Rail to achieve the targets of Transnet’s Market Demand Strategy. The Iron Ore Line’s contribution to TFR’s volumes is a sizeable 58 million tons of iron ore and 2 million tons of manganese.
One of the benefits of applying the current maintenance philosophy on the Iron Ore Line is that it prepares the infrastructure to sustain current and future volume growth in the line with the Market Demand Strategy.
