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Blessings Chidakwa Herald Reporter
The National Railways of Zimbabwe’s (NRZ) turnaround strategy is progressing, with the support from the Government, board chairperson Advocate Martin Dinha has said.
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, Adv Dinha applauded the Government.
The theme for the commemorations this year was; “Be Vigilant around Tracks, Trains are fast, but too slow to stop”.
“We continue to rely on Government support to ensure we achieve the objective of turning around the fortunes of this great entity,” said Adv Dinha.
“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.”
Adv Dinha said Government should subsidise the urban commuter train service to enable NRZ to smoothly deliver its services, saying such services were not profit-oriented, but social and community service based world over.
He said the firm was basically serving the communities and cushioning them against high transport costs.
The NRZ first introduced commuter trains (commonly known as Freedom Trains) in Harare and Bulawayo in 2001 to cushion the public from soaring transport costs.
It suspended the service in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, but reintroduced it in 2021 in partnership with the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company which was failing to cope up with the large numbers of commuters.
“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,” said Adv Dinha. “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.”
Online Reporter