South Africa granted 11 private companies permission to operate trains on the national rail network for the first time in more than a century, a move aimed at boosting mineral exports and easing financial pressure on state-owned Transnet after years of operational crisis.

Transnet’s sprawling collection of railways, ports, and pipelines have made it a critical player in Africa’s biggest economy. But more than a decade of decay and corruption scandals have created an infrastructure chokepoint.

South Africa hopes the new approach — which allows private companies to run the national network under a regulated slot system — will reverse that decline. Transnet officials called it a “game changer,” allowing operators such as Geneva-based shipping firm MSC and Africa’s largest shipping company Grindrod to respond to growing global demand for the continent’s raw materials.