Lüderitz – Seeheim railway line
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 Train in the shifting dunes (around 1910)
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| Route length: | 318 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1067 mm ( cape track ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 2.5 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Lüderitz – Seeheim railway line - also known as the Südbahn , formerly the Lüderitz Railway to Keetmanshoop - is a TransNamib railway line in Namibia between Lüderitz and Seeheim .
initial situation
The railway owes its existence to the realization from the uprising of the Herero and Nama that the dependency of the coastal hinterland of the former protected area German South West Africa on just one existing railway line Swakopmund – Windhoek was too little to keep the country under control in the long term.
In Lüderitz and a 140 kilometer wide strip inland there is no fresh water , which made the overland transport of animals relatively expensive. While 40 million gold marks had to be spent on traffic on the Baiweg in a single year before the railway was built , the construction of the railway between Lüderitz and Keetmanshoop cost a total of 27.6 million gold marks.
construction
In contrast to the existing 600 mm network in northern German South West Africa, the track gauge chosen for the Lüderitz– Aus - (Keetmanshoop) route was that of neighboring South Africa , namely the Cape gauge of 1067 mm.
The German Colonial Railway Construction and Operating Company (DKEBBG) was responsible for the construction and operation . Construction began at the end of 1905 and operations as far as Aus began on November 1, 1906. The construction company created the subgrade, the superstructure was laid by the railway battalion of the protection force .
After initial financial difficulties, the second section from Aus to Keetmanshoop was built in 1906/1907 in 15 months and in 1908/1909 the branch line from Seeheim to Kalkfontein Süd, today's Karasburg , was added.
business
The biggest problem with the operation was the extreme lack of water. Neither in Lüderitz nor at the first end point of the line, in Aus, was there a source and thus feed water for the steam locomotives . There were no condensate trains yet. Initially, the water was obtained from two seawater desalination plants in Lüderitz, enormously expensive (5 M / m³), but still cheaper than drinking water brought in by sea from Cape Town (40 M / m³). Only later was a well drilled in Garub .
The Lüderitz Railway had:
- 22 locomotives
- 15 passenger coaches
- 243 freight cars
- 2 tank wagons for water transport
- 52 track master cars
The workforce comprised 515 employees, 125 of whom were European.
In the beginning, two mixed trains per week ran the Lüderitz – Keetmanshoop route, but after a few years this was reduced to one connection per week. Since it was only driven during the day, the journey was interrupted in Kuibis , where there was an overnight stay. A week-long express train was added later, making the route in one day. The mixed trains had a connection to Kalkfontein in Seeheim.
Diamond track
In Kolmanskuppe there was a connection to a 600 mm factory railway of the Diamond Fields , which has been electrified since 1911 and remains the only electrically operated railway in Namibia to this day. Since diamond mining moved further and further south, the northern part of the railway to Pomona in 1931 - and with it the connection to the Lüderitz railway - was abandoned.
Further development
The neighboring South Africa was German war opponents in the First World War . From South Africa - as an extension of the De Aar - Prieska line - the construction of the railway was pushed ahead in order to obtain a safe supply route for South African troops. In 1916 the track in Kalkfontein was connected to the branch line of the Lüderitz Railway. In peacetime there was continuous passenger traffic from South Africa to Windhoek on this track. However, this was discontinued in autumn 2006 on the other side of Upington on the South African side. There is currently regular freight traffic on the Lüderitz Railway on the Keetmanshoop – Aus section, as well as passenger and goods traffic via the branch line from Windhoek between Keetmanshoop and Upington.
Development since 2001
Since 2001, the section between Aus and Lüderitz has been completely rebuilt to improve the connection to the Lüderitz port . Completion was scheduled for 2012. For a long time, construction work was slow.
On November 13, 2014, the completion of the entire route was announced. A total of more than 540 million Namibian dollars were put into the renovation. On November 19, 2014, a train arrived in Lüderitz for the first time in 18 years. Due to sand drifts, no other train has reached Lüderitz since then. In December 2016 it was decided to move parts of the route into a tunnel.
In mid-2019, manganese was transported from South Africa to the port of Lüderitz for the first time on the railway line .
gallery
Steam locomotive DSWA 2-8-0T No. 11 at the opening of the Lüderitzbahn in Seeheim (around 1908)
Draisine near Simplon on the Seeheim-Aus route (2017)
Luxury train at Simplon between Sandverhaar and Goageb (2015)
Freight train at Simplon
See also
literature
- Brenda Bravenboer and Walter Rusch: The First 100 Years of State Railways in Namibia . Windhoek 1997, ISBN 0-86976-401-2 .
- Helmut Schroeter: The railways of the former German protected areas in Africa and their vehicles (= The vehicles of the German railways . Volume 7). Frankfurt 1961.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lüderitz – Seeheim railway line on a map from the time of German South West Africa
- ↑ Südbahn breaks new ground Allgemeine Zeitung online, December 1, 2006
- ↑ Südbahn is only slowly gaining traction Allgemeine Zeitung online, December 14, 2009
- ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung: TransNamb whines for no reason from May 30, 2012
- ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung: The station master without trains ( Memento from December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) from June 8, 2012
- ↑ Hitradio Namibia November 13, 2014 morning news. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 13, 2014 ; accessed on March 31, 2018 .
- ↑ November 19, 2014 News at noon. Hitradio Namibia. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 19, 2014 ; accessed on March 31, 2018 .
- ^ Reviving railway system could reduce accidents:! Naruseb. Namibia Press Agency, December 13, 2016.
- ^ Manganese shipment revives Ariamsvlei-Lüderitz railway. Namibia Press Agency , September 1, 2019.
Kranzberg – Walvis Bay | Kranzberg – Otavi | Lüderitz – Seeheim | Otavi – Grootfontein | Otavi – Tsumeb | Tsumeb – Oshikango | Windhoek – Gobabis | Windhoek – Nakop | Windhoek – Kranzberg
Historic routes: Ambolandbahn | Lüderitzbahn | Otavi Railway | Otjiwarongo – Outjo | Swakopmund – Windhoek | Khan pit connecting railway (Kleinbahn)