Overview

The Eswatini Railways connects the country to Four (4) Sea ports; 2 in South Africa and 2 in Mozambique. Ports of Durban, Richards Bay in South Africa and Maputo and Matola Ports in Mozambique through its north/south line. This line links these ports to the Matsapha Dry Port / Inland Container Depot (ICD) where bulk cargo imports are delivered into Eswatini including containers. The ICD is wholly owned and operated by Eswatini Railways (ESR) and was constructed in 1993 with assistance from the Taiwan government. It has a capacity of 500TEU and average receipt of three trains of 40 wagons weekly of Import and three trains of Export goods. Another ICD is being constructed called the Mpaka Inland Port in the Lubombo region initially planned for completion in March 2022.

ESR is in partnership and business agreements with South African rail under SADAC with headquarters in Zimbabwe. They are currently involved in development of a new rail project from Port of Durban to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Traffic stream for the ESR is 85% Transit cargo of metals and ores and 15% other goods that include Fuel Imports from South Africa and Wheat, while exports handled include Bulk Sugar and Coal.

The Matsapha ICD is the 2^nd biggest point of entry in terms of imports and Exports in the country after Ngwenya. Upon arrival of containers at the ICD, Eswatini railways provides a door to door service that delivers containers conveniently straight to the customers and containers back to the yard. It has a bonded warehouse and have all service providers on site, the revenue authority, forwarding and clearing agents and shipping lines like MSC and Safmarine. The main activity of the ICD is handling mainly goods coming from outside Southern African Customs Union (SACU) region which comprises Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa. The main stakeholders to the ICD are ESR and shipping lines like Maersk, MSC, CMA and CGM.

Eswatini railways is one of the most reliable railways in the SADC region in terms of transit time, with few manageable delays from port to Matsapha. It tracks cargo from port to Matsapha and shipping lines track from overseas origin to the port. There is a reputable record of safety with very few incidents of vandalism or theft.

Eswatini railways has undertaken a feasibility study regarding expansion of the ICD to provide more storage space and other services to broaden their capacity. The Eswatini Government has already allocated land to undertake the expansion.

The government of Eswatini in October 2021 put out a tender for the development of the Mpaka Inland Container Depot, a new ICD which is conceptualised to reduce the constraints on the Matsapha ICD with provision of more container space and Sugar Mills and ethanol producers operations support.

Home — Eswatini Railways

Railway Companies and Consortia

Eswatini Railways is a government owned parastatal that runs its operations commercially without any government subvention. The track is maintained and railways runs its own rolling stock. They report to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and there is currently no agency responsible for regulating rail transport in Eswatini.

ESR is the largest hauler of goods in the country and the only railway operator. Government does not regulate the pricing of rates. Benchmarking is done with the operators in the region and consider operating costs to stipulate rates. Rates given to customers are for both the rail and ship legs. Customers get rates through ESR or the shipping lines. 

Capacity Table

Key Route Information

Key Stations