http://www.railwaysafrica.com/2007/08/d ... ack-theft/
I thought it was a new article until I looked at the date: August 2007. We are now fast approaching August 2009, two full years on and still the situation remains just as bleak for Dam Rail and, beyond any doubt, the best tourism railway preservation opportunity available in Gauteng/North West. There has been no apparent progress at all, not even stagnation, just regression. All that has changed is that there is even less track in place now than there was then. In the intervening time, the scrap metal business has been the only the only beneficiary and is still benefiting, even now. An "Expression of Interest" submitted in response to an urgent Transnet request about a year ago appears to have been ignored or shelved.
Meantime everyone, bar the scrap metal thieves, has lost: Transnet, whose asset this line is (fast becoming 'was'); the local tourism and craft industries who would have benefited from foreign and local tourism train traffic; the "Cradle of Humankind" whose site is almost adjacent to this line; the local workers and residents who would have been provided with a cost-effective "short-cut" across the dam; Dam Rail, the major contenders to operate the line; Friends of the Rail who would have provided regular steam train excursions from Pretoria; and, last but certainly not least, the people of South Africa whose heritage, as exemplified by this line, is being sytematically destroyed by bureaucratic inaction, incompetance and inefficency.
Will this line ever be made operational again? Will it become an important contributor to the 2010 tourism scene (being very close to 5 out of the 10 major World Cup stadiums and 4 out of the 9 major host cities)? Will the long-suffering Dam Rail founders and visionaries ever see their dream come true? I doubt it. Previously allocated funds have been spent elsewhere. Both time and the rails are fast running out.
Posted on 23 August 2007 by Railways Africa Editor
Damrail, the organisation restoring part of the Pretoria-Magaliesburg line past Hartebeestpoort Dam, has been hard hit by thieves removing rails and sleepers. By November 2004, less than 6km of usable track remained. Prior to this, a Wickham railcar had been run over longer sections, both for maintenance purposes and occasional demonstration trips. The estimated cost of replacing the stolen track is in the region of R60,000. Previous track thefts were replaced by members of Dam Rail at a cost of over R200,000.
Since the agreement between Transnet and the North-west Parks & Tourism Board is still not signed, work during the past two years has focussed on restoring the three donated coaches. Two have been renovated internally and all still require exterior painting.
Damrail’s latest information from the Board is that a feasibility study on re-opening the line was supposed to be commissioned from Africon.
The Rail Safety Regulator’s permission will be needed before operations can be resumed along the line.
