Africa
Southern Africa IRJ
NAMIBIA
Swakopmund Usako
Walvis Bay Gobabis Windhoek
Usbot.Lbmbibsj!Sbjmxbz BOTSWANA
Gaborone Lobatse
Mafikeng Keetmanshoop Luderitz ..
to South Africa would make better sense as it is shorter and Botswana would be exposed to less financial risk. However, it is uncertain whether there
Vryburg
is sufficient capacity in South Africa for TFR to be able to haul large quantities of coal from Morupule. Either way, BR will continue to
Namibia’s riddle of the sands
Johannesburg Pretoria
N 0
Existing lines Proposed lines
km 200 Bulawayo Sowa Francistown
Selebi Phikwe
Morupule Serowe
Mahalapye Palapye
Waterburg Mmamabule
Thabazimbi Vaalwater
Plumtree West Nicholson Beitbridge Messina Chicualacuala Zoekmekaar
SOUTH AFRICA
Komatipoort Lothair
SWAZILAND Ermelo Sidvokodvo
benefit from a rise in freight tonnages while Botswana’s neighbours jockey for a piece of the action. Cecil John Rhodes would be pleased. IRJ
I 28
F the proposed Trans-Kalahari Railway (TKH) project ever gets off the ground, it may be the shot in the arm that Namibia’s ailing national railway, TransNamib, desperately needs. TransNamib is battling with a raft of problems, the biggest of which are a crippling maintenance backlog and a severe shortage of motive power. After a series of derailments, the
TransNamib network is beset with speed restrictions, while the country’s roads are being hammered by trucks, prompting a warning in the local press from Namibian Logistics Association chairman Mr Willie du Toit: “Our
roads are crumbling and this is a disaster for the logistics and tourism sectors. We are also in dire need of a proper and reliable railway system.” When a truck operator calls for a decent railway, it is clear that the transport situation is desperate. Many of TransNamib’s problems
stem from its history. The network was run by South African Railways until Namibia gained its independence in 1990. Critics say the last comprehensive maintenance was carried out just before the South Africans left. What is certain is that the elderly fleet of GE-built U20C locomotives that the South Africans left
behind still form the backbone of the TransNamib fleet. Chinese-built locomotives acquired in batches in the last decade have been a disaster and the stripped hulks of this failed venture can be seen parked at the diesel depot in the capital. Some local shippers are resting their hopes on the TKR, not least because a decent deepwater port linked to a viable heavy-haul railway would enable Namibia to compete with South Africa and soon Angola, when the Benguela Railway rehabilitation is finally completed, as a transit country for the landlocked countries of southern Africa. But TransNamib needs better government funding. Company secretary Ms Eugenia Taylor-Tjaronda told the New Eranewspaper that while TransNamib had spent $N 20m ($US 1.9m) on maintenance between 2006 and 2012, the government had contributed just $N 7m over the same period. TransNamib has been trying to
restore the Lüderitz - Seeheim line in the south of the country. The route traverses the shifting sands of the Namib Desert and keeping the tracks clear of sand dunes is a Sisyphean task. The line is being laid with tubular track (IRJ March 2012 p38) but observers wonder if there will be enough traffic from the tiny fishing port of Lüderitz to justify its repair.
IRJ July 2013 Maputo Goba ZIMBABWE
Bumboujd!Pdfbo
Joejbo Pdfbo
MOZAMBIQUE
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