IF any Transnet officials have noticed the irony of looking to lorries to reinvigorate part of its general freight business, they are staying quiet about it. In 1985 when the South African government scrapped the permit system which restricted private road-haulage in favour of rail transport, private shippers - tired of decades of poor or absent service - deserted the state-owned railway in droves. The decline continued through the 1990s and into the new century. As single wagonload traffic and general freight continued to evaporate, the railway cut services and closed thousands of kilometres of uneconomic branch lines.
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