South Africa

=== Railways ===
{{Main|Rail transport in South Africa}}
[[File:Gautrain..., O R Tambo Intl Airport South Africa.jpg|thumb|[[Gautrain]] [[Higher-speed rail|higher-speed]] commuter rail]]
Rail transport in South Africa is an important element of the country's [[Transportation infrastructure|transport infrastructure]]. All major cities are connected by rail. [[Transnet Freight Rail]] mainly operates freight services while [[Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa|PRASA]] operates commuter services. State-owned utility Transnet Freight Rail is the largest freight rail transport operator on the African continent, the company maintains a rail network of approximately 31,000 kilometres but only 20,900 kilometres of this are in use.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South Africa Transnet Freight Rail |url=https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/south-africa-transnet-freight-rail |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=www.trade.gov |date=5 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

South Africa's railway system is the most developed and largest in Africa as well as the [[List of countries by rail transport network size|13th largest in the world]]; however, freight, passenger and port capacity shortages remain a severe constraint in domestic and regional trade.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South Africa – Rail Infrastructure |url=https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/south-africa-rail-infrastructure |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=www.trade.gov |language=en}}</ref> Coal and iron ore are mainly transported on these lines, the country's rail network carried nearly 230 million tons of freight in 2017 however, this has declined to 179 million tons in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Daniel |first=Compiled by Luke |title=SA's railways have lost a quarter of its freight in five years – making already bad roads worse |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/bi-archive/more-trucks-on-south-african-roads-because-of-rail-collapse-2022-7 |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}</ref>