Transnet, South Africa’s state-owned freight and logistics enterprise, has concluded a marketing partnership with Sun International, in a bid to re-position The Blue Train.
The luxury rail entity is the only passenger rail service within Transnet, after the state-owned enterprise transferred its other passenger services to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) between 2006 and 2008.
Earlier this year, Transnet invited bidders to submit proposals to partner in developing and piloting a marketing strategy for The Blue Train for an initial period of up to 18 months.
Sun International was the successful bidder.
According to Transnet, its ultimate goal is to use the strategy to support a business case to recapitalise The Blue Train, which may include building new state-of-the-art trains.