Transnet Freight Rail has seen a decline in security incidents such as cable theft which have hobbled its operations, but its overall performance on crucial lines remains well off-track. A coal and energy conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday heard that Chinese locomotives may yet provide some light at the end of this tunnel.

Transnet's woes have been a gaping pothole in South Africa's road to economic recovery, costing the mining industry tens of billions of rand a year in lost exports. Union sources have told Daily Maverick that coal producers have signalled they may need to make job cuts if the problems persist.

In a presentation to the Coal & Energy Transition Day conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday, organised by Resources4Africa, Transnet Freight Rail's chief executive, Sizakele Mzimela, highlighted the main constraints. It is basically a breakdown of the state-owned enterprise's rail woes.

To wit, in the 53 weeks to 25 March 2023, the presentation said a shortage of locomotives was the main factor hampering coal exports, to the tune of 18.5 million tonnes. Locomotive service failures accounted for a loss of almost 3.9 million tonnes.

"Infrastructure failures" cut 5.9 million tonnes, security incidents from theft and vandalism 4.4 million tonnes, derailments 3.7 million tonnes and industrial action -- read strikes -- about 2.2 million tonnes.

That's a total loss of about 38.6 million tonnes and in the 2022/23 financial year, Transnet managed to move 48.7 million tonnes to Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) by rail, according to the presentation. If the losses...