Transnet SOC Ltd., the state-owned port and rail-freight operator of South Africa, and Swaziland Railway have inked a deal for the construction of a 146-kilometer rail line that will create additional capacity for transporting coal exports from the region.
The new $2-billion rail line will link South Africa’s coal-producing province of Mpumalanga at Lothair to Richards Bay, one of the largest world’s coal export terminals, through the landlocked Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy.