From our very first journey to where we stand today, our dedication to excellence remains unchanged. As our organisation settles into year 38, we reflect on the major milestones and successes over the past year that continue to make Traxtion a trailblazer in the African rail industry.

Raising the bar (and taking home the trophies)

We kicked off our 37th birthday month (October 2024) by winning a major accolade—the platinum award—at the prestigious GIBS Logistics Achiever Awards, for our first-to-market rebuild of four 60-year-old GE U20C carcasses into fit-for-purpose 2,000hp locomotives. Judges called the entry a ‘WOW factor’ project, validating the quality of work produced by our Rail Services Hub in Rosslyn and supplier network.

Days later, Traxtion picked up three honours at the inaugural Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) Rail Industry Awards: Excellence in Training, Best SADC Region Initiative, and Outstanding Nominated Manager (Elize Howell). This underscores our commitment to striving for and maintaining the highest levels of service and safety standards possible.

Expanding the footprint, solving real bottlenecks

We deepened our presence in new jurisdictions and extended support to existing corridors. In Angola, we put ‘boots and locomotives on the ground’ on the Lobito line, leasing and maintaining shunters and running conversion training to keep operations fluid. We also signed a new contract with TransNamib for two refurbished EMD GT22s with control-system upgrades, rewiring, and livery work at Rosslyn, plus driver training and technical support.

Our entry into new jurisdictions, including Angola and Guinea, follows the same playbook: practical capacity, disciplined maintenance, and skills transfer. We ramped up volumes on the TAZARA corridor between Dar es Salaam, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Zambian Copperbelts. This resulted in Traxtion helping stabilise copper shipments for upstream producers facing export bottlenecks, contributing to restoring continuity in a corridor once plagued by week-long delays, and showcasing how rail access models deliver measurable results.

Transformation with outcomes

Inside the business, we accelerated initiatives that make rail more representative and resilient. The momentum built by the Future of Rail is Woman campaign is attracting female talent; our TraxWagon bursary awarded four full-study bursaries to women for 2025; and our Diesel Electrical Fitter Apprenticeship reached at least 40% female representation as of 2024.

A standout story is Keneilwe Tekane, Traxtion’s 2025 Apprentice of the Year, who reflects the depth of female technical talent in our programmes. This year’s flagship Rail Fair gave learners firsthand exposure to rail careers, turning awareness into aspiration for young women.

Community impact where we work

In Amandasig, we concluded a multi-year renewable-energy installation that took the secondary school off the grid, freeing budget for education priorities at a school already tracking a 91% matric pass rate.

We marked Human Rights Day with a community grass-cutting initiative in partnership with The Community Masilo Projects, and we joined the global rail community for International Level Crossing Awareness Day to reiterate the message of rail safety and reduce rail-related incidents.

On Mandela Day, our teams focused on uplifting communities in the Northern Cape, repairing facilities and supporting local initiatives that make a meaningful difference in the Ulco and Delportshoop communities where Traxtion has a footprint.

The year ahead is investable rail and growth

As South Africa’s rail reform advances, Traxtion’s focus is on adding more reliable capacity to the network and doing so in ways that are bankable for the long term.

With reform unlocking space for private rail operators, our commitment to invest reaffirms our intent to grow where reliability and scale are enabled. We are ready to invest in access conditions that support predictable service delivery. Thirty-eight is gearing up to be a massive year for us!