Rail transport in Botswana

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Route network

The rail transport in Botswana is characterized by its focus on freight transport, which takes place almost exclusively on the north-south route in the east of the country. This route connects Botswana with its two neighboring countries, South Africa and Zimbabwe . Driving is on the in southern Africa usual Cape gauge . The operator is the state-owned transport company Botswana Railways .

topography

Botswana is an approximately 582,000 km² landlocked country. Only the areas in the east of the country are more populated. Mining is carried out there, such as the extraction of diamonds . Most of the country is covered by the Kalahari desert , salt lakes , the Okawango delta , savannah and steppe . The neighboring countries are Namibia in the west, Zambia in the north, Zimbabwe in the northeast and South Africa in the south and east.

history

The railway line from Ramatlabama on the border with today's South Africa to Ramokgwebana on the border with Zimbabwe was built around 1900 at the instigation of Lord Kitchener during the Second Boer War . Back then, what is now Botswana was a British protectorate under the name Bechuanaland . The route connects the largest towns in what is now Botswana, including the capital Gaborone and the second largest city, Francistown . In South Africa, the route continues to Mahikeng and on towards Johannesburg , heading north to Bulawayo . In addition to the main line, which is around 640 kilometers long, branch lines were built from Francistown to the salt works for soda production in Sowa and at the Serule junction from the main line in an easterly direction to the nickel and copper mines of Selebi-Phikwe .

Since the independence of Botswana in 1966, the railway systems and vehicles belonged to the Rhodesian Railways , after their renaming National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ). In 1987 the company Botswana Railways was founded, which took over the routes and vehicles in Botswana from the NRZ. Passenger traffic took place on the Francistown – Lobatse route from 2009 until a multi-year interruption . A pair of night trains ran daily on the route. Train locomotives were diesel-electric locomotives of the types UM 22C, GT22LC-2 and U15C from General Electric , which were built between 1982 and 1990. In 1993, fully air-conditioned passenger cars were purchased. Until 1999 there was also a weekly passenger train from Bulawayo through Botswana to Johannesburg. In the same year, the passenger trains on the Bulawayo – Mafikeng route were shortened to the Francistown – Lobatse route within the country.

After the opening of the privately operated Beitbridge –Bulawayo railway in Zimbabwe in 1999, which enables direct transport from South Africa to Zimbabwe, the tonnage of goods transported in transit through Botswana fell considerably. From 2006 passenger trains ran again from Bulawayo via Francistown and Gaborone to Lobatse. On April 1, 2009, passenger traffic in Botswana was stopped for economic reasons. In addition, the air-conditioned passenger cars had never been serviced, so that further use seemed too dangerous. In 2013, a pair of passenger trains ran from Zimbabwe to Francistown only two days a week.

present

Mainly goods traffic is operated on the rails of Botswana. Bulk goods such as coal, copper, nickel, soda, salt and meat are transported to South African ports and cement, wheat and fuel are imported from South Africa.

In 2016, reconditioned cars were procured from Transnet Engineering in Pretoria , South Africa . They have been providing a daily connection between Lobatse and Francistown and back since March 2016. Occasionally there are luxury tourist trains like the Pride of Africa .

Projects

In 2014, Botswana and Namibia agreed to set up the Trans-Kalahari Railway , a heavy-duty rail transport route to the port of Walvis Bay on the Atlantic coast, which should primarily serve to transport coal, but will be rescheduled after the 2015 Paris climate protection agreement .

In 2019, plans by the Botswana government to build a heavy haulage line for freight trains from Mmamabula - 130 kilometers northeast of Gaborone - to Lephalale in the South African province of Limpopo became known. This will also be used to transport hard coal .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Botswana Railways route network ( Memento from June 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 17, 2009
  2. ↑ Description of the Beitbridge – Bulawayo railway line ( Memento of February 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on November 17, 2009
  3. ^ Passenger traffic in Botswana , accessed on November 18, 2009
  4. ↑ Press release on the cessation of operations ( Memento of November 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 17, 2009
  5. ↑ Timetable of the passenger trains 2013, with stations for the entire route , accessed on September 30, 2015
  6. ↑ New passenger stock for Botswana. railwaysafrica.com from March 31, 2016 (English), accessed on April 11, 2016
  7. ^ Trans-Kalahari railway line on track. lelamobile.com, accessed December 5, 2018
  8. ↑ Botswana is set to construct a new heavy haul railway from Mmamabula area to South Africa's Lephalale coalfields as it moves to diversify its economy. pulse.com.gh, February 5, 2019, accessed February 5, 2019