Lubinda Mufalo Sakanga*, Erastus Mwanaumo and Wellington D Thwala
Transportation continues to be recognized as an essential sector contributing to the development of many economies. Railway Transport, in particular, due to its absolute advantage of transporting bulk and heavy cargo, is pronounced as a freight surface transport mode which can contribute to the sustainable development of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) of Africa. This regional economic community has economies primarily dependent on bulk exports and imports of freight influencing their balance of payments and this trade also serves as the basis for their economic growth. It is from this ideology that railway freight transport economic efficiency is desired. This paper gives a realization of the variables for inclusion in a Railway Economic Regulatory Framework for enabling sustainable regional economic development in SADC based on economic and competitiveness theories. A particular case of the SADC North South Corridor Railway Market is used as a sufficient and representative SADC railway corridor due to the multiple number countries (Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe) involved defining this railway corridor. This North South Railway Corridor is argued to be representative because the railway networks of these countries are connected to most if not all the other ten railway corridors in SADC but all other corridor has a smaller number of countries.
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