Transnet revamps security as crime hobbles trains
State-owned rail network operator Transnet has hired five private security companies in an effort to reduce chronic theft and vandalism of trains that disrupt its operations.
Transnet said it was responding to changing criminal trends through the plan, which holds the security service providers liable for protecting its freight rail operations, according to a statement Wednesday.
There were more than 4 800 cases of cable theft last year across Transnet’s operations with a conviction rate of only 4%, CEO Portia Derby said at a Bloomberg event in Johannesburg last week. Criminals target the copper contained in cables, disabling electric trains that account for most of the fleet.
The disruptions, along with other failures that have idled locomotives, have cost miners tens of billions of dollars because they’ve struggled to move coal and other products to export harbours. Trucks have taken up the deliveries along some routes, creating safety issues and tearing up roads that weren’t designed to handle such traffic.
“Service providers will enforce a mix of physical guarding, armed response teams, and interventions to address organized crime groupings behind the illicit copper market,” Transnet said. There have been protests at Transnet sites by employees of security firms previously hired by the company, some of whom failed a vetting process to be retained under the new arrangement, it said.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Rentech provides renewable energy products and services to the local and selected African markets. Supplying inverters, lithium and lead-acid...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
