CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South Africa’s freight logistics group Transnet has suspended operations on its main iron ore railway line due to cable theft, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
“A power failure was reported on the line at 23h50 on Tuesday night and upon inspection the team confirmed that 11 spans of catenary and contact wire were stolen,” Transnet Freight Rail said in the statement.
The railway line stretches up to 861 km (534 miles) from iron ore mines at Sishen in the Northern Cape to the Saldanha port in the Western Cape and is South Africa’s main link for iron ore exports.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Nellie Peyton and Lisa Shumaker)