South Africa's Transnet resumes rail traffic on second coal line

London — A second rail line serving South Africa's dedicated coal export facility at Richards Bay is expected to reopen at around 1600 GMT on June 24, South Africa's state-owned rail freight operator, Transnet, confirmed to S&P Global Platts.

An official spokesman for Transnet told Platts the line would reopen around 6:00 pm local time, which would mean the line return to 100% operating capacity.

A derailment last week left two lines severed, and the first was reopened on June 22 although trains would not be able to run at full capacity until both lines had reopened, Transnet said.

Market source estimated around 1.2 million-1.6 million mt of coal travels on the line each week, which would account for nearly all the exports seen by the terminal.

Stockpiles at the terminal had unsurprisingly shrunk while the rail lines were down, being heard at 4 million mt June 24, from 4.9 million mt before the derailment.