National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) board chairperson Martin Dinha has implored the government to subsidise the urban commuter train service to enable the parastatal to continue serving members of the public.
Dinha said this in a speech read on his behalf during the launch of the third edition of the NRZ National Safety Week, which is also commemorated by Southern Africa Railway Association members.
The theme for the commemorations this year was “Be Vigilant around Tracks, Trains are fast but too slow to stop”. Said Dinha:
Our passenger service, particularly in the commuter trains such as the ones that run in Luveve, Cowdry Park, are never profit-oriented world over but community and social-based. We are basically serving the community.
In conjunction with ZUPCO, we request the government to provide a subsidy for commuter train services which we offer in urban areas.
… We continue to rely on government support to ensure we achieve the objective of turning around the fortunes of this great entity.
As we go into the twilight zone of the turnaround phase, we have been geared for this transformation so that we bring NRZ to its rightful position in terms of influencing our economy.
Dinha expressed concern over the increase in unsafe activities around the railway tracks which include railroad-level crossing accidents, suicides on the tracks, stone throwing, vandalism, illegal gold panning and mining.
He appealed to line Ministries and other government departments to assist the NRZ in protecting the national infrastructure.
The NRZ first introduced commuter trains (commonly known as Freedom Trains) in Harare and Bulawayo in 2001.
The company suspended the service in 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic but reintroduced it in 2021 in partnership with the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO). | New Ziana