The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) urgently needs new passenger coaches to resume its transportation services and compete with private buses in terms of ambience and speed, according to General Manager Respina Zinyanduko.
However, the passenger service is currently suspended due to financial constraints and the poor condition of the existing coaches.
Zinyanduko highlighted the importance of passenger services to the NRZ’s public image and the need for government subsidies to make these services viable.
“Passenger services are considered the image of the NRZ, and their underperformance attracts public opinion,” she said last week to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development.
“When you see people talking about NRZ being dead, it’s mainly because of passenger services. To the general public, all they know about NRZ is the transportation of passengers. So when they see our old coaches, to them, that’s the definition of the organisation’s death.”
The GM pointed out that the NRZ is keenly aware of the critical role passenger services play in gaining public confidence.
According to Section 37 of the Railway Act, passenger services are supposed to be subsidised by the government, as they are more of a social service than a business venture.
“We know that this is critical in terms of gaining public confidence in the organisation. We are of the considered view that this is suspended at the moment. We were once running it in terms of the Railway Act, think Section 37, it’s supposed to be subsidised by the government,” Zinyanduko said.
Zinyanduko noted that passenger services were costly to run and claimed other countries were having to subsidise their operations.
“Last week, CFM Mozambique (the rail and port authority of Mozambique) recently introduced their passenger train and they were considering reducing the runs because when I was talking to their executive chairman, they are providing 90 percent subsidy and only getting 10 percent of the cost they are using to run the train,” she said, adding that their neighbor company managed to sustain this because of their profitable freight operations.
“Because they attended to their freight business, the subsidy is coming from their freight operations, and this is exactly what we intend to do.”
Zinyanduko said once NRZ addresses the freight side of its business and makes sure it runs profitably, the company will be able to efficiently run passenger trains, subsidising the operations as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.
“We are at an advanced stage in terms of making sure that we address the freight side. Once we do that, we can reintroduce the trains, not the old coaches we have. It is not our desire to do that but to move with the times like other countries. We may appear to be behind, but we know one day we can get there,” said the NRZ GM.
“One, on passenger services, we did not intend to transport any passengers due to the challenges of the state of our coaches. Two, cautions on the rail track are also a cause of concern. Three, generally when you go with such coaches in the market to compete with the modern buses, you can rest assured that either you ferry people for free or they would not come to the trains because we have too many buses.”
Zinyanduko made it clear that the goal is not to bring back the old coaches but to adopt modern standards.
“If NRZ were to introduce passenger trains, it would need coaches that can compete with private buses both in terms of ambiance and speed,” she said.
In its business portfolio, NRZ offers freight, passenger, and real estate services, with freight services accounting for 90 percent of the company’s business.
“Freight services move goods and account for the biggest chunk of our operations in terms of money, effort, and operations. Our business portfolio provides for the movement of goods throughout the system, accounting for 90 percent of the NRZ revenue,” Zinyanduko said.
“Freight provides bulk transport services for inputs as well as finished products and the productive sectors of the economy.”
The GM said NRZ mainly concentrates on moving agricultural, industrial, mining goods, and energy within and across borders.
“We are strategically located. Traffic from Zimbabwe passes through Zambia to DRC. Traffic from Botswana passes through Zimbabwe to Maputo. We are connected to four countries: South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, and Zambia, and remotely to DRC. That’s where we move our traffic to,” Zinyanduko said.
In terms of freight revenue for 2024, the NRZ had set a target of US$56 million for the year.
“The target for June was US$27.19 million, and the actual performance was US$16.1 million, lower than the 2023 performance of US$23.13 million. On delivery time for traffic, our target was 75 hours, and we did 85 hours, an improvement from last year where we did an average of 89 hours.”
As the NRZ works towards revitalising its freight operations, Zinyanduko said they hoped for a successful turnaround in this area to pave the way for a much-needed renewal of passenger services, ultimately restoring public confidence in the national rail system.
