22-540: The history of rail transport in Namibia began with a small mining rail line at Cape Cross in 1895. The first major railway project was started in 1897 when the German Colonial Authority built the 600 mm ( 1 ft 11 + 5 ⁄ 8 in ) gauge Staatsbahn (State Railway) from Swakopmund to Windhoek . By 1902 the line was completed. Parallel to this government initiative,
44-515: A place he called Monte Negro, now called Cabo de Santa Maria, roughly 150 km southwest of today's Benguela , Angola. During his second voyage, in 1484–1486, Cão reached Cape Cross in January 1486, being the first European to visit this area. He is known to have erected two padrões in the areas beyond his first voyage, one in Monte Negro, and the second at Cape Cross. The current name of
66-609: Is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet . It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration , a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people for decades from the first half of the 20th century and was widely referred to by the initials SAR&H (SAS&H in Afrikaans ). Customer complaints about serious problems with Transnet Freight Rail's service were reported in 2010. Its head office
88-726: Is a headland in the South Atlantic in Skeleton Coast , western Namibia . In 1484, Portuguese navigator and explorer Diogo Cão was ordered by King John II of Portugal to advance south into undiscovered regions along the west coast of Africa, as part of the search for a sea route to India and the Spice Islands . While doing so, he was to choose some particularly salient points and claim them for Portugal by erecting stone crosses called padrões . During his first voyage, thought to have taken place in 1482, he reached
110-528: Is in Lüderitz ) where seals are culled , partly for selling their hides and partly for protecting the fish stock. The economic impact of seals on the fish resources is controversial: while a government-initiated study found that seal colonies consume more fish than the entire fishing industry can catch, animal protection society Seal Alert South Africa estimated less than 0.3% losses to commercial fisheries. South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail
132-829: Is in Inyanda House in Parktown , Johannesburg . Railways were first developed in the area surrounding Cape Town and later in Durban around the 1840s. The first line opened in Durban on 27 June 1850. The initial network was created to serve the agricultural production area between Cape Town and Wellington. The news that there were gold deposits in the Transvaal Republic moved the Cape Colony Government (supported by British Government) to link Kimberley as soon as possible by rail to Cape Town as part of
154-500: Is in short supply in Namibia, and the coal needed to heat the water in the steam locomotives also had to be procured from the Transvaal . After the independence of Namibia, TransNamib took control of the national rail network. [REDACTED] Media related to History of rail transport in Namibia at Wikimedia Commons Cape Cross Cape Cross ( Afrikaans : Kaap Kruis ; German : Kreuzkap ; Portuguese : Cabo da Cruz )
176-543: The Natal Government Railways to form the South African Railways , which is now Transnet Freight Rail. Transnet Freight Rail is a freight logistics and passenger transport railway. It is the largest freight hauler in Africa . The company comprises several businesses: Transnet also formerly owned Shosholoza Meyl , the non-luxury long-distance passenger rail service. Shosholoza Meyl was transferred to
198-578: The Otavi Mining and Railway Company (O.M.E.G.) was established. It built another 600 mm ( 1 ft 11 + 5 ⁄ 8 in ) gauge line, the Otavibahn , from Swakopmund to Tsumeb via Otavi between 1903 and 1906, and a branch from Otavi to Grootfontein in 1907/08. The German colonial railway was taken over by the Railways of South Africa after World War I, and linked into
220-882: The Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway were taken over by the Imperial Military Railways under Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Girouard . After the war had ended, the Imperial Military Railways became the Central South African Railways in July 1902, with Thomas Rees Price as general manager. With the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the CSAR was merged with the Cape Government Railways and
242-485: The African continent was not very productive for agriculture. Initially, overland transport was operated entirely by ox-cart. A small mining rail line opened at Cape Cross in 1895. Soon afterwards, the ox-cart transport system totally collapsed, in the wake of a rinderpest epidemic in 1897 . As it was necessary to react quickly to the now extremely precarious transport situation, decisions were made: Train services on
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#1732771849793264-404: The brilliant, far-sighted King John II of Portugal ordered Diogo Cão, knight of his court, to discover this land and to erect this padrão here". Cape Cross is a protected area owned by the government of Namibia under the name Cape Cross Seal Reserve. The reserve is the home of one of the largest colonies of Cape fur seals in the world. Cape Cross is one of two main sites in Namibia (the other
286-898: The colonial dream. The Central South African Railways ( CSAR ) was from 1902 to 1910 the operator of public railways in the Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony in what is now South Africa . During the Anglo-Boer War , as British forces moved into the territory of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic , the Orange Free State Government Railways , the Netherlands-South African Railway Company and
308-476: The diamond fields, between Kolmannskuppe and Bogenfels, was electrified from 1911, and thus became, to this day, the only electric railway in Namibia. As the diamond mining was always moving further south, the northern part of the line as far as Pomona was abandoned in 1931, and some of its materials were used for the extension of the railway towards Oranjemund . The southern section was operated with diesel traction . The industrial railway no longer exists today;
330-405: The end of 1914 they had built a 37 km (23 mi) long 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) railway to Swakopmund. The Otavibahn was also reconstructed in 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) as far as Usakos , and the section between Usakos and Karibib was realigned. The network north of Usakos remained in 600 mm ( 1 ft 11 + 5 ⁄ 8 in ) gauge;
352-517: The following lines were established (listed by first year of full operation): From August 1915 the Namibian railway network was operated de facto by South African Railways , and this arrangement became official in 1922. From 1959, steam locomotives were gradually replaced by diesel locomotives, for which an engine-house was built in Windhoek. This made operations very much easier, because water
374-608: The lifting of the line was carried out by bulldozers and trucks . With the outbreak of World War I, the German Schutztruppe military unit retreated from the coast, and withdrew into the inland. In the process, the Schutztruppe destroyed the Otavibahn , and the old Staatsbahn towards Karibib , as far as Rössing. British troops immediately moved forward from the British enclave of Walvis Bay , and by
396-476: The network of South Africa. After the independence of Namibia, TransNamib took control of the national rail network, which, by that time, had long since been converted to 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge. The basic structure of the Namibian railway system dates from the time when the country was a colony of the German Empire known as German South West Africa . This arid part of
418-605: The place is derived from this padrão . What can today be found at Cape Cross are two replicas of that first cross. The original Cape Cross padrão was removed in 1893 by Corvette captain Gottlieb Becker , commander of the unprotected cruiser SMS Falke of the German Navy , and taken to Berlin . The cross is now held in the Deutsches Historisches Museum . A simple wooden cross
440-552: The whole of the new line, which was called the Staatsbahn (State Railway), began on 19 June 1902. Construction of the railways connecting with the Staatsbahn was aimed partly at military strategic objectives following the uprising of the Herero and Nama , and partly at economic requirements. By World War I , the following lines had been developed (listed by first year of full operation): The 600mm gauge industrial railway of
462-788: The workshop for both gauges was consolidated in Usakos, and the one in Karibib was closed. Neighbouring South Africa was also an enemy of the German Empire. From there, a new railway was constructed – as an extension of the De Aar - Prieska railway – to achieve a secure supply route for the South African troops. In 1916, the line was connected to the German network at Kalkfontein (now Karasburg ). Under South African/British occupation,
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#1732771849793484-457: Was put in its place. The wooden cross was replaced two years later by a stone replica. At the end of the 20th century, thanks to private donations, another cross, more similar to the original one, was erected at the cape along with the first replica. The inscription on the padrão reads, in English translation: In the year 6685 after the creation of the world and 1485 after the birth of Christ,
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