Transport Minister Barbara Creecy used her 2025/26 Budget Vote in the National Assembly on 2 July to outline a R66 billion, multi-year recovery and investment plan aimed at modernising South Africa’s rail, port and aviation networks. The programme forms part of the National Treasury’s wider commitment to channel more than R1 trillion into infrastructure over the medium term, which government argues is essential for growth and job creation. Rail is the centrepiece of the strategy. Crediting recent progress by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Creecy said 35 of 40 commuter-rail corridors have been restored, enabling 77 million passenger journeys in the last financial year and a projected 116 million in 2025/26. Treasury support will finance new rolling stock, signalling upgrades and station refurbishments, while reforms at Transnet are intended to draw private operators into freight rail. In aviation, Airports Company South Africa has been allocated R21 billion to expand terminals, build a new freight facility at OR Tambo International Airport and secure jet-fuel supplies. The upgrades are designed to raise system capacity to 42 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo annually by the end of the administration’s term. Creecy also confirmed that a faulty driver’s-licence card printer has been repaired and an agreement with Government Printing Works will clear a 690,000-card backlog within three months. On road safety, the minister said the department is working to meet the United Nations goal of halving road fatalities by 2030; crashes currently claim about 12,000 lives a year and cost the economy an estimated R200 billion. Early-2025 data show fatalities down 9 percent year-on-year, which officials say underscores the effectiveness of the new strategy.