The Southern African Railways Association (SARA) is a “Not for Profit” regional association of railways in the SADC region and some of their associates (customers, suppliers and other interest organisations) which was formed in 1996. Its Mission is to facilitate the creation of an environment whereby the railway industry is a top performer in the transport sector and make rail the mode of choice. This will be achieved through bringing about fair competition, developing an equitable market driven surface transport (road and rail) industry, improved efficiency and effectiveness in the regional railways operations and to champion the cause of the regional railways.
In order to meet its objectives and expectations of stakeholders, SARA will provide a number of services and pursue certain key activities as outlined below.
- Transportation services for freight & passenger services
- Advocacy and Lobbying
- Consultancy services
- Regional Information System
- Information Services
Member Benefits
The Southern African Railways Association (SARA) was formed with the initial objective of promoting railway interests through advocacy and lobbying for the levelling of the playing field between road and rail, exchange of information and collaboration among members in order to provide a cost effective seamless railway transport service. Although this objective would seem to apply to railways whose networks are connected, it was SARA’s deliberate position to allow other railway organisations not necessarily connected through their railway network to be part of their membership as there were potential benefits from this interaction. As time progressed it was realised that there were other key stakeholders to the railway delivery service delivery system who could impact on or could be impacted by the railway service delivery process. This being the case, there was a change in the membership drive in order to accommodate these key stakeholders.
Benefits of the Corridor Concept
The presentation was made by Mr. Stephenson Ngubane, Swaziland Railway Director of Operations and Marketing and also SARA Executive Committee (EXCO) member as follows…
- SADC Railways have a common gauge (1067mm), therefore rolling stock is interchanged easily without the need to transship cargo.
- Most Railways have border stations on each side of the border and would place the trains either on their border station or across, it all depends on the arrangement between the neighbouring railways.
- Each railway would inspect the train they receive (technical inspection and cargo). In some cases this would be joint inspections.