Rail transport in South Africa
Rail transport in South Africa plays a major role in the development of South Africa. Today, especially the freight of meaning. The Ministry of Public Enterprises ( Department of Public Enterprises) and the Ministry of Transport ( Department of Transport ) take public responsibility for rail transport.
- 5.1 Development of the route network
- 5.2 locomotives
- 5.3 The railway in the apartheid era
- 5.4 trams
The route network
The route network had a length of 2008 kilometers around 20,192. Of these, 19,756 kilometers were performed in Cape gauge ( 1067 mm gauge ). South Africa thus has the longest narrow gauge network of the earth. There were 2008 122 Kilometer 750 -millimeter railways and 314 km 610 -mm lines. Two routes for the Gautrain in the area of Johannesburg and Pretoria were built around 2010 in standard gauge. Around three -fifths of the routes are not electrified and be driven by diesel locomotives. The electrified lines are equipped with 3 kV DC, 25 kV AC or 50 kV AC, each with catenary. In the past, there were several major cities tram networks.
Border crossings in rail transport
The South African railway network connects
- At Ressano Garcia to the network of Mozambique Railways CFM
- At eGolela and south of Komatipoort to the network of Swaziland Railway in Swaziland
- In Musina / Beitbridge to the network of National Railways of Zimbabwe
- At Ottoshoop on the route to Gaborone and Francistown in Botswana and Plumtree in Zimbabwe
- West of Upington in the power of the Trans- Namib in Namibia.
Besides there is a operated by Transnet Freight Rail route to Maseru in Lesotho. Length of the route in Lesotho is 2.6 kilometers.
The route network of Transnet Freight Rail is connected by the railways of neighboring countries with Zambia Railways, the TAZARA, the southern network of Société Nationale des Chemins de fer du Congo, the rail network in Malawi, the Benguela railway and Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique Central and - North.
Operators and development of the sector
The majority of freight is the responsibility of the state company Transnet, which has for its business Transnet Freight Rail. This also includes the public line network. For the long-distance passenger traffic since 2009, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa ( PRASA ) is responsible after Transnet has made this area for economic reasons. It operates the Metrorail network, provides comprehensive technical services to Transnet for the transport in the metropolitan areas.
Since 2009 there is an annual gathering of institutions in the transport sector, which is being organized under the name of Railways & Harbours in the form of an exhibition and a conference. It serves the development of rail transport and the exchange of the associated economic prospects.
Passenger
The majority of passenger rail traffic today covers the transport in conurbations. Under the name Metrorail suburban trains operate in the regions of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London.
There are also long-distance trains with some long running trails. Most long distance trains operate under the name Shosholoza Meyl ( Shosholoza is a folk song that deals with workers at the train; Meyl say about " Langstreckenzug "). Connect the major centers of the country and run up to once a day. The Shosholoza Meyl trains run as " Premier Classe " - "Tourist / Sitter" - or "Economy " trains. The latter are primarily the non-tourist passenger services.
From Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein, Komatipoort, Port Elizabeth and East London are achieved. In addition, there was at least up to 2008 lines of relation - Alicedale Grahamstown. The travel speed of the long-distance trains is relatively low. So Shosholoza Meyl a train for the 1,500 -kilometer route Johannesburg - Cape Town requires around 27 hours, so reaching an average of 56 km / h
Furthermore, there is as designed exclusively for tourists luxury trains the Blue Train and the Pride of Africa. The longest path of the Pride of Africa, which is regarded as the most luxurious train in the world, Cape Town -Dar es Salaam. On many routes there are occasional or regular tourist trips in historic locomotives. It was known the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe, the last wrong on the railway line George - Mossel Bay.
On many routes that were formerly operated regularly, take no more passenger trains. Today, no neighboring country is more achieved by regular passenger trains. Last exception was the Namibian Trans Namib Desert, the regular services between Windhoek and Upington offered ( until about 2008).
Freight traffic
The rail freight transport is the main type of goods transport in South Africa. The freight depends above all on the ports of South Africa, as Richards Bay, Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, with the port of Ngqura and East London as well as to the Mozambican port of Maputo. Johannesburg is the City Deep Container Terminal, the largest cargo center in Africa.
For the removal of ores specially the 861 km long " Erzbahn " from Sishen Saldanha was built to the port on the Atlantic Ocean, which is operated as a single track in South Africa with 50 kV AC.
History
Development of the rail network
The first railway line in South Africa was the most opened June 26, 1860, about three kilometer route Durban Point in the province of Natal. 1862, the route Cape Town Eersterivier by the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company was completed. Together with the 1865 section opened to Wellington, the track was 72 km long. The first locomotive on the track still stands today as a monument in the Cape Town train station. 1864 followed the route Cape Town - Wynberg Wynberg the Railway Company.
The first railway line in the former Transvaal province resulted from Johannesburg to Boksburg to the local coal mines. It was opened in 1890 and was called Rand Tram ( German as: " tram of the Witwatersrand area " ) even though it was a railway line. In the same year the line was extended in both directions according to Krugersdorp and Springs.
1892, the industrial areas of the Transvaal via Bloemfontein to the ports Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London were connected.
1894 opened the 1887 Nederlandsch -Zuid - Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatschappij ( NZASM, German: " Dutch -South African Railway Company " ) a distance from Pretoria to Delagoa Bay, in today's Maputo. This route had already been considered concretely in 1880, as they promised favorable freight costs due to a relatively short distance to the Indian Ocean and the favorable tariff policy in Portugal. A bond in the amount of half a million pounds on the capital market Amsterdam failed in the 1880s. A serious obstacle in the path planning formed the steep mountain areas and the deep Taleinschnitte on the Transvaal side, near Komatipoort in the area of the Crocodile River. These terrain features once had also delayed the construction of a powerful street. After this line was consistently passable, she made over many decades, one of the major transportation routes for the transport of goods from the northern area of South Africa. Bulk commodities such as coal, steel and sugar arrived at the ship loading to Maputo and in this way to power plants and other consumers on the coast of South Africa. In the course of aimed at economic independence government policy, the Bothanomics of Pieter Willem Botha and the changed political situation in southern Africa, especially in Mozambique, started in 1983 with the construction of a new railway line through Swaziland to the freight port Richards Bay in the eastern Natal, the further characterized gained in importance. As a result, cargo could be delivered from the eastern Transvaal areas on politically safe territory to its own nearby seaport. In this context, Pretoria tried to push away the influence of the SADCC from the small neighboring country.
1898 a distance of Kimberley on the then Mafeking to the then colonies Bechuanaland, Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia was built (now Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia). In the same year the Natal province was connected by a line to the Transvaal to the South African grid. In order for a country-wide network was born. The plans to went back to Cecil Rhodes, who had a rail network " from Cape Town to Cairo " sought.
After the Second Boer War, the NZASM became the Central South African Railways ( CSAR). After 1910, the four provinces of Cape Province, Orange Free State, Transvaal and Natal came together for the Union of South Africa, 1916 were the CSAR, and merged the Cape Government Railways, the Natal Government Railways for the South African Railways & Harbours (SAR & H).
In April 1981, the first steps to increased commercialization of state-owned railway company have been made. In place of the SAR & H run as a company South African Transport Services ( SATS ) was established, which included other modes of transport. On 1 April 1990 it finally became the state-owned company Transnet. By 2007, the agency responsible for rail transport subsidiary Transnet Spoornet was called ( German as: " trackage "). 1997 Metrorail was removed from Spoornet and an independent subsidiary, which has since been responsible for the operation of local trains in the metropolitan areas. 2007 Spoornet was renamed Transnet Freight Rail. This is to symbolize the primacy of freight transport in South Africa. The handling of the passenger traffic was spun off in 2006 and transferred together with Shosholoza Meyl in steps up to 2009, the newly formed Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa ( PRASA ). However, a wide range of technical services remained at Transnet.
Locomotives
Have long been used exclusively for the transportation of steam locomotives trains. This was due to the high efficiency of the engines and the availability of coal from domestic production. Particularly successful steam locomotive types were Garratt locomotives that were procured in Cape gauge and 610 - mm gauge, and Class 25 locomotives. Some of them were built by Henschel in Germany. The steam locomotive Red Devil ( German: " Red Devil " ) went from a steam locomotive of the class produced 25 and is still regarded as most powerful narrow gauge steam locomotive of the earth.
After 1958, the first diesel locomotive in Durban had been put into operation, decided the South African Railways in 1970 to replace the steam locomotives. In 1988 but were more than 600 steam locomotives in use. More steam locomotives were in industrial railways in operation.
The railway in the apartheid era
The state railways were incorporated after 1948 in the system of apartheid. So prevailed in the passenger car strict racial segregation, which was already indicated by signs on the entrance doors of the car. Likewise, the additions were separated from major stations for " non-white " and "white ". Only in the late 1980s the restrictions were lifted gradually.
Trams
In cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban were electrically powered trams. The first South African tramway was opened in Johannesburg in 1890. Until the early 1960s, all routes were shut down. A two- kilometer tram line was established in 1985 in Kimberley mainly for tourism purposes. It is still operated (as of 2010 ).
Others
A world-first train is the Klinikzug Phelophepa, used to out-patient care in rural areas.