Maputo — The rail companies of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region are concerned to improve their performance, and thus reverse the current scenario in which the movement of people and goods in the region is dominated by road transport.

This concern was the dominant note at the opening in Maputo on 6 November of a three day conference and exhibition of the Southern African Railways Association (SARA), under the theme “Promoting full road, rail and port integration in southern Africa”.

Speaking at a press conference following the opening ceremony, SARA Executive Director Bernard Dzawanda pointed out that the current distribution of traffic in the region is that 85 per cent is carried by road and only 15 per cent by rail.

This is a radical change from the situation in the 1980s, when rail transport dominated the market. According to Dzawanda, this changed because road transport benefitted from more investment than the railways.