North-South Railway Corridor

Measuring nearly 4,000km, the North-South Railway Corridor (NSC) connects the mineral-rich Katanga region in south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to the ports of Durban and Richards Bay in South Africa. The corridor traverses six (6) countries and seven (7) railway operators and is one of Africa's crucial logistics highway.

Regrettably, the amount of cargo transported on the NSC has been declining over the years to the concern of the governments, multilateral bodies, railway operators and various business executives in the Southern African Development Community. Some of the major contributors to the decline that have been identified in recently completed studies of the NSC include the:

• poor state of the railway infrastructure in some countries,
• lack of appropriate structures to govern the corridor's management,
• constrained balance sheets of the railway companies, and
• insufficient rolling stock, to name a few.

Fortunately, there are signs that various stakeholders of the NSC are willing and prepared to work together to revive this vital logistics corridor.

Stay tuned for more updates!