South Africa's Transnet suspends iron ore rail services due to adverse weather

South Africa's logistics utility Transnet has suspended freight rail services on its iron ore corridor due to adverse weather conditions, the company said on Saturday. The railway line, which stretches from iron ore mines at Sishen in the Northern Cape to the Saldanha port in the Western Cape, is South Africa's main link for iron ore exports.

In a statement, Transnet said it suspended all mainline train services along the ore corridor to Saldanha "shortly before noon on Thursday, 23 March 2023 due to extreme weather conditions in the Western and Northern Cape." "Strong wind conditions caused the top-mounted electrical gear of a locomotive to become entangled in the overhead cables. This resulted in damage to 600 meters of overhead track equipment," the company said.

It added that Transnet Freight Rail suffered further damage when heavy rains, hail, and high winds caused flash floods that swept through road infrastructure, cutting off access to a 150 km section of the railway reserve. Transnet was working around the clock to restore the line, the statement said.

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