GEORGE NEWS - The Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe will not be travelling on the George-Knysna railway anytime soon. 

Transnet has stopped the process of granting a concession to Classic Rail, the private consortium that has been working for years in an effort to get train services on this line restored.

The 67km track was closed following extensive flood damage in 2006.

Responding to a query from George Herald, Transnet spokesperson Mike Asefovitz commented, 

"We had intentions of moving forward with a concession for this line, which would then be repaired and operated by a private entity. This process has been halted but will gain new momentum when we put the line out to tender in the coming 12 to 24 months. There are no developments behind the scenes at the moment."

Etienne Beukes, who is part of the Classic Rail consortium, said with approval from Transnet to start working on the line, granted in 2016, a lot of money has already been spent on a section from the Knysna bridge to Keytersnek. 

Transnet has granted approval that they continue their work, while waiting for the concession agreement to be finalised.

"We have been waiting for seven years for Transnet to conclude the agreement. We will be having a discussion with them regarding their latest intention to put the project out to tender. We have put too much into this project to just let it go."

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