Rail transport in South Africa
Rail transport in South Africa is an important element of the country's
History
The first railway was from Cape Town to Wellington and was worked by a small locomotive in 1859. The first passenger-carrying service was a small line of about 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) built by the
In the north, in the independent
Later railway development was driven by
A national "link-up" was established in 1898, creating a national transport network.
Upon the merger of four provinces to establish the modern state of South Africa in 1910, the railway lines across the country were also merged. South African Railways and Harbours (SAR & H) was the government agency responsible for, amongst other things, the country's rail system.
Electrification of the railways began in the 1920s with the building of the Colenso Power Station for the Glencoe to Pietermaritzburg route, and the introduction of the South African Class 1E.[9]
During the 1980s, the transport industry was reorganised. Instead of being a direct government agency, it was modelled along business lines into a government-owned corporation called
During the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, the rail system suffered looting.[12][13]
Network
Two public companies operate freight and commuter services: Transnet Freight Rail and PRASA, respectively. Transnet Freight Rail is the largest division of Transnet, a State-Owned Company (SOC) wholly owned by the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the custodian of rail, ports, and pipelines.
The commuters' network is divided into urban and long-distance routes. Metrorail, the urban commuter transport service present in Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape, is responsible for transporting up to 2 million passengers daily. Shosholoza Meyl used to operate long-distance routes covering the major metros in the country: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London. However, after a train collision killed one person in Horizon View west of Johannesburg on 12 February 2020, the Railway Safety Regulator suspended all Shosholoza Meyl train operations indefinitely.[14] The Blue Train is a luxurious passenger train and a popular tourist attraction for South Africa,[11] which runs from Cape Town to Pretoria. It was the winner of the most luxurious train in Africa for the tenth consecutive year in 2019 and the three-time winner of the world's most luxurious train at the World Travel Awards. The Blue Train, however, is operated by Transnet Freight Rail.
With the increasing coverage the nation's highway system provides, long-distance passenger travel has declined in South Africa. While many commuters still use rail for their daily commute, nationally, only half of the nation's 36,000 kilometres (22,000 mi) of track is being fully utilised, and some 35% of the nation's track carries no activity or very low activity.[1] Accordingly, Transnet is moving towards an emphasis on freight, rather than passengers, to keep its rail system profitable.
To look at the South African transport network, including the railways, view this map from the United Nations.
A high-speed rail link has been proposed, between Johannesburg and Durban.[15]
Specifications
Nearly all railways in South Africa use a
Numerous two-foot narrow gauge railways were constructed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
South African trains connect through the
Between 50% and 80% of the rail lines in South Africa are
Rolling stock
South Africa uses a variety of rolling stock from several manufacturers.
In 1957, Union Carriage & Wagon was founded in Nigel for local production of rolling stock.[19]
Accidents and incidents
- 19 February 1896, a freight train loaded with eight trucks of dynamite was struck by a shunter while unloading. The resulting Braamfontein Explosion was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in history, killing more than 70 people and injuring over 200.
- 2 February 2002, 24 people died in the 2002 Charlotte's Dale train collision
- 26 October 2005, 2005 Deelfontein train collision, head-on collision between the Blue Train and the Shosholoza Meyl
- 13 November 2006, Faure level crossing accident, 19 people were killed at a level crossing near Somerset West when a metrorail train collided with a truck carrying farm workers.[20]
- 21 April 2010, 3 crew died in the Pretoria runaway of a Rovos Rail train
- 25 August 2010, Blackheath level crossing accident, ten children died as a result of a level crossing crash between a Metrorail commuter train and a minibus taxi.
- 13 July 2012. Hectorspruit level crossing accident, at least 25 people were killed at a level crossing near Hectorspruit, Mpumalanga, when a coal train collided with a truck carrying farm workers.
- Saturday, 18 July 2015. Johannesburg train crash: Two commuter trains collided and overturned in Johannesburg. ~200 people were injured.
Rail systems in nearby countries
The following countries mostly use 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge and are mostly connected. Countries beyond those listed are of other gauges.
- Angola
- Botswana
- Republic of the Congo– isolated
- Democratic Republic of the Congo – half isolated
- Eswatini
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mozambique (Pretoria–Maputo railway), under repair
- Namibia
- Tanzania same gauge as far as Dar es Salaam –
transshipment to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge at Kidatu - Zambia
- Zimbabwe
See also
- Two foot gauge railways in South Africa
- Avontuur Railway
- Cape Government Railways
- Cape gauge
- Flying Dutchman Funicular
- Kei Rail
- Metrorail
- Natal Government Railways
- Netherlands-South African Railway Company
- Shosholoza Meyl
- South African locomotive history
- Transport in South Africa
- Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa
- Transnet
- Rovos Rail
- Gautrain
References
- ^ a b c South Africa – ICOMOS World Report on Monuments and Sites in Danger 2002: Heritage @ Risk
- ^ Talbot, Frederick Arthur Ambrose. Railway wonders of the world. Cassell and Company. p. 606.
- ISBN 0-7981-1760-5
- ^ J Lunn, (1992). The Political Economy of Primary Railway Construction in the Rhodesias, 1890-1911, pp. 239, 244.
- ^ S Katzenellenbogen, (1974). Zambia and Rhodesia: Prisoners of the Past: A Note on the History of Railway Politics in Central Africa, pp. 63-4.
- ^ "Railway line opened Vic Falls to the world". 16 April 2021.
- ^ "SAR & Transnet History". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2007.
- ^ SA Railway History Archived 5 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "South African Railways Power Plant". Electric Railway Journal. 60 (24): 914. 9 December 1922. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
- ^ Spoornet history
- ^ a b c d South Africa :: Railways and roads – Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- ^ "South Africa's railways: How thieves have destroyed the network". BBC News. 1 February 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Hope for decrepit stations". Benoni City Times. 25 August 2022.
- ^ "'Speeding' Shosholoza Meyl stopped in its tracks following fatal train crash". News24.
- ^ "Railway Gazette: Ambitious plans will still need funding". Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
- ^ "Freight Rail International Joint Ventures". Transnet – Freight Rail. Archived from the original on 26 November 2009.
- ^ "Rail Engineering Wheels Business". Transnet – Rail Engineering. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008.
- ^ "Railway Transportation in South Africa" (PDF). Global View. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 December 2009.
- ^ "History". Union Carriage & Wagon. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
- ^ "Train crash death toll false, say police". Independent Online. Retrieved 18 November 2006.
Further reading
- Bullock, Richard (November 2009). AICD Background Paper 17 – Off Track: Sub-Saharan African Railways (PDF). Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
- Van Onselen, Charles (2019). The Night Trains: moving Mozambican miners to and from South Africa, circa 1902-1955. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers. ISBN 9781868429943.
- Van Onselen, Lennox E (1962). Head of Steel. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. OCLC 1130282824.
- The South African Railways – History, Scope and Organisation. South African Railways Public Relations Department. June 1947.