In a statement on Monday the state-owned rail operator said May was a quieter period and provided an opportunity for the company to repair or replace old infrastructure and accelerate expansion projects, according to Creamer’s Engineering News.

Transnet said the entire service had to be stopped because there were some sections on the rail line where infrastructure work could not be carried out in isolation.

This was the case at Overvaal, a single-line portion of the rail line where critical maintenance and refurbishment work was required, Creamer’ said.

Transnet railed a record 69.2 million tons of export coal on the line last year and plans to develop its infrastructure to increase capacity to 81Mt per year by 2014.