Rail transport in Swaziland

Route network in Swaziland (as of 2019), black lines: active routes (301 km), gray route: closed

The rail transport in Swaziland is focused on freight traffic. There is a west-east route and a north-south route. Swaziland is connected by rail to its two neighboring countries, South Africa and Mozambique . Driving is on the in southern Africa usual Cape gauge .

topography

Swaziland is an approximately 17,000 km² landlocked country. In the west the area rises to 1,862 meters above sea level, in the east it is relatively low and flat except for the Lebombo Mountains along the eastern border. The neighboring countries are South Africa in the north, west and south and Mozambique in the east.

history

In 1865 there were first plans to build railway lines in Swaziland. In the 1920s it was planned to build a route from South Africa to Mozambique across Swaziland. In return, South Africa even considered annexing Swaziland . Until 1964 there were no railway lines in Swaziland. In South Africa and Mozambique, however, there were well-developed route networks. A route from Lourenço Marques , today's Maputo , led into the Mozambican Goba on the eastern border of Swaziland . There was rail traffic from Durban to the South African town of Golela on the southern border of Swaziland .

On November 5, 1964, four years before Swaziland's independence, the first railway line within the country was opened by the then King Sobhuza II . At that time it led from Goba to Ka Dake, which is around 1,500 meters above sea level near the western border. The route runs in the valleys of the rivers Lusutfu (also Great Usutu ) and Lusushwana and initially served mainly to transport iron ore from Ka Dake. It runs past the two centers of the country, Manzini and Mbabane , about ten kilometers apart .

The most important freight yard is Matsapha Industrial Site near Matsapha Airport near Manzini, where mainly containers are handled. The railway depot is also located on the line in Sidvokodvo in central Swaziland. In 1974, numerous steam locomotives were procured for the South African Railways . Until 1978 the railway ran under concession from the Mozambican Railway .

Since then, the state-owned Swaziland Railway or Eswatini Railways, renamed in mid-2018, has been the operator. In the same year, construction of a stretch to the north and another stretch from Phuzumoya south to Golela began in eastern Swaziland. The northern route was extended further north to Komatipoort within South Africa in 1986 and has since served mainly as a transit route connecting the northern states of Zimbabwe , Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the ports of Richards Bay and Durban in South Africa. In the early 1990s, the repatriation of Mozambican civil war refugees from Swaziland to their home country was mainly carried out by passenger trains.

present

In 2009, the route network in Swaziland is 301 kilometers long. Diesel locomotives are used in freight transport . The Matsapha Industrial Site – Ka Dake section is no longer served. Passenger transport only takes place in tourist traffic. Museum trains pulled by steam locomotives run around Swaziland around six times a month .

In 2012 around 4.9 million tons of goods were transported, four million of which were in transit. The export goods carried include sugar, canned fruit, coal, pulp and wood. The main imports are fuels, wheat and cement. The maximum axle loads on the north-south route are 21 tons, on the east-west route 16.5 tons. Trains with up to 40 freight cars can run on the routes.

With Swazilink , another rail link through South Africa and Eswatini is to be built for freight traffic.

Web links

• Official website of Eswatini Railways (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Map of the route network, as of 2011 , accessed on December 26, 2013
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Eswatini Railways - History , accessed on May 10, 2020
3. ↑ http://www.geonames.org/935064/ka-dake-station.html Satellite image with altitude information on geonames.org, accessed on October 25, 2009
4. ↑ Economic plan for Swaziland, PDF page 10 ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English, PDF), accessed on November 21, 2014