State-owned logistics company Transnet plans to shrink the 20 000 km freight rail network it operates by at least 35% as it focuses on delivering more profitable cargo loads. Transnet, which also runs the nation’s main ports and pipelines, has been hobbled by a shortage of locomotive parts, the theft of cables used to operate its electric trains and inefficiencies that have arisen due to it being a monopoly. The problems have impacted the main line that takes coal from mines in the eastern Mpumalanga province to port.