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South Africa Opens RFIs To Shape Passenger Rail Overhaul

Market input will steer future procurement, with DBSA named to run the new PSP unit.

Overview

  • The online portal for submissions runs from 26 October to 15 December 2025, and the exercise is explicitly informational rather than a tender.
  • Government has appointed the Development Bank of Southern Africa as implementing agent for the PSP unit, which will design bid windows and future RFPs.
  • Focus areas include integrated tap-and-go ticketing across modes, upgrades to Braamfontein and Wolmerton depots, commercialising Prasa’s fibre network, regional rapid routes, and exploring a 300 km/h Johannesburg-Durban link.
  • The programme targets 600 million annual passenger journeys by 2030, building on Prasa’s 35 of 40 corridors recommissioned and 77 million audited trips reported by end-May.
  • The initiative follows a freight RFI that drew 162 responses, with Transnet’s first RFP due before end-2025 and three more planned for the first half of 2026.