Overview
The Origins of Rail in South Africa can be traced back to 1853, when the Cape Town Railway & Dock Company was formed. Five years later, the construction of the first railway in South Africa was launched via the signing of a contract between the Cape Town Railway & Dock Company and the Government of the Cape of Good Hope.
The Rail network quickly expanded to other provinces and, by 1910, the Cape Government Railways, Natal Government Railways, Transvaal Government Railways and the Ports of the coastal provinces combined to form the South African Railways and Harbours (SAR& H). With Air travel becoming increasingly popular and viable, the South African Airways was incorporated into the SAR& H IN 1934.
On 01 April 1981, the government restructured the SAR&H to become state business enterprise known as South African Transport Services (SATS). SATS in turn became Transnet Limited – incorporated as a company on 01 April 1990 with the State as its sole shareholder. As the national rail operator, Transnet Freight Rail (then Spoornet) became one of the major divisions of Transnet.
In July 2007, Transnet unveiled a new image which entailed adopting a monolithic brand and Spoornet was renamed Transnet Freight Rail.
Transnet Freight Rail is also taking care of the Heritage Library. The library’s collection includes Corporate Annual Report, railway related journals and books, The South African Railways & Harbours Magazine , Transport encyclopaedia of South Africa , Railways timetables , reports of investigation done for the South African Railways and ± 200 000photographs. For more information on the heritage library, please contact Ms Yolanda Meyer.