Eswatini Railways (ESR) has been a vital part of the country’s transportation landscape for more than six decades.
Despite operating in a small, landlocked market, ESR plays a critical role in regional trade, connecting South Africa and Mozambique with other Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations.
With its focus on productivity and profitability, ESR is thriving, even as the country has set the retirement age at 60. The railways of Eswatini are experiencing a new era of growth and transformation.
The history of ESR is shaped by the broader context of colonial infrastructure development. In 1902, Portuguese colonial authorities planned a railway line to connect Swaziland (now Eswatini) with Lourenço Marques (Maputo) in Mozambique, aiming to boost trade through the port.
South Africa also recognized the strategic value of railways, establishing a line from the east to the Swazi border to facilitate exports through Richards Bay.
However, the British colonial authorities in Swaziland at the time saw little need for rail infrastructure due to the country’s limited exports.
That changed in the 1960s when the Ngwenya Mine, located in the western part of Eswatini, began producing ore that required a reliable transport system to reach the coast.
With no highways in place, the construction of a rail line from Goba in Mozambique to Matsapha in Eswatini commenced in 1961 and was completed in 1964, with King Sobhuza II officially launching operations.
However, the growth of ESR was interrupted by the Mozambique Civil War in the 1970s, which severed the rail link.
South African Railways, now Transnet Freight Rail, stepped in to finance a new connection to Golela, allowing ESR to connect to the port cities of Durban and Richards Bay by 1978.
Over time, a new rail line bypassing Mozambique was built, enabling freight from South Africa’s Phalaborwa region to travel through Eswatini to the coast.
Today, ESR operates 301 kilometers of narrow-gauge rail across three key lines: the Goba railway linking to Mozambique, the Komatipoort railway connecting to South Africa’s Mpumalanga region, and the Richards Bay railway.
While ESR historically relied on domestic cargo, such as sugar and textiles, its profitability has increasingly been driven by transit traffic from neighboring countries.
The development of a dry port in Matsapha in the 1990s enabled ESR to handle shipments to South Africa and landlocked countries like Zambia.
In 2021, ESR further demonstrated its growing regional significance by facilitating the transport of one million tons of coal from Mpumalanga to Maputo, with coal being transferred to rail at the Sidvokodvo siding.
Looking ahead, the Swazilink project promises to further enhance ESR’s regional connectivity and capacity.
This 146-kilometer joint venture with Transnet Freight Rail links Lothair in South Africa to Eswatini, connecting directly to Maputo.
The project will feature 2.5-kilometer-long trains and the capacity to run up to 12 trains per day in each direction on the new General Freight Business Corridor.
Gideon Mahlalela, the long-serving chief of ESR, stated in 1998 that the future of freight transport in Eswatini lies in rail.
With its environmental benefits, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency, rail transport is central to ESR’s vision of becoming a key player in the region’s logistics sector.
With a growing infrastructure base, including new projects like Swazilink, Eswatini Railways is well-positioned to become a crucial link in Southern Africa’s trade and economic growth.
