{"id":9829,"date":"2022-01-19T12:15:09","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T12:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib"},"modified":"2022-01-19T13:08:20","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T13:08:20","slug":"unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib","title":{"rendered":"Unreliable passenger services haunt TransNamib"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Ageing and unreliable rolling stock coupled with a largely dilapidated railway line is forcing would-be train passengers onto the road in a country where fatal road accidents are a common occurrence. \u201cWe could not be experiencing lack of transportation if we had passenger trains available to us. Public transport is so expensive compared to taking a train. TransNamib must do something and improve its services to benefit the nation. I am from the north but I have never used a train as a mode of transport,\u201d bemoaned Saima Eelu.<\/p>\n

Another frustrated would-be rail passenger is Simon Johannes who also wished train services could be functional. He argued that had TransNamib passenger service been fully operational, fatal car crashes could be minimised.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we are forced to take buses and they are very risky. Not only that they are risky but also costly because one can fork out as much as N$350 for a hike to the north. We want the train services en route to Oshikango to be operational so we can arrive safely at our destinations. TransNamib must also rehabilitate their railways so no fatalities can occur as we saw a lot of derailments happening now,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

The company has recorded almost 200 accidents in the last four years, leading to the deaths of 12 people. Last Friday between Guibes and Schakkalskuppe, another TransNamib locomotive and four wagons capsized as a result of a wash away. The personnel involved were not injured.<\/p>\n

More than 50% of TransNamib\u2019s railway lines do not meet the minimum Southern African Development Community (SADC) stipulated standard of 18.5 tons\/axle load and locomotives are about 60 years old. TransNamib\u2019s spokesperson Abigail Raubenheimer said passenger services on its own are not economically profitable or viable for TransNamib.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only do this as a service to the public and as required through our mandate, but it is important for Namibians to know that it\u2019s not a profitable service on its own and that is why we always combine passenger service with our cargo,\u201d she remarked.<\/p>\n

Between April 2020 to 31 March 2021, the number of Starline passengers stood at 5 305. Secondly, she noted TransNamib\u2019s ageing locomotives, as well as the generally poor state of the railway line, prevent them from running a safe and reliable passenger service in the country.<\/p>\n

According to her, the combination of these factors thwarts TransNamib from offering more passenger trains even on other routes. At the moment, TransNamib\u2019s passenger services have largely stuttered to a halt.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, during December, we ran two trains to and from the south and the west. While there is certainly demand for passenger services, with our ageing and unreliable locomotives which are about 60 years old, we are unable to provide reliable passenger services,\u201d Raubenheimer explained.<\/p>\n

This she said will remain the case until such time as and when TransNamib is able to acquire the latest and more reliable locomotives, which are part of the company\u2019s strategic plan.<\/p>\n

She mentioned the most popular routes for the passenger services are the Walvis Bay-Windhoek (west) and Windhoek-Keetmanshoop (south) routes. The current rates the current routes charged are N$180 for the Windhoek – south route, while passengers pay N$170 for the Walvis – Windhoek route.<\/p>\n

TransNamib last year leased four locomotives from South Africa. The company has about 25 active locomotives but to operate the business efficiently, they need about 75 locomotives, comprising 50 mainline locomotives and 25 shunting locomotives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leasing of the locomotives forms part of our short to medium-term strategy to increase our pulling capacity. We have done as much as we can and pushed as much as possible with the current ageing rolling stock in order to reach our plan of becoming a profitable company,\u201d she reacted. She admitted TransNamib needs a rolling stock that is new, reliable, and safe.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Ageing and unreliable rolling stock coupled with a largely dilapidated railway line is forcing would-be train passengers onto the road in a country where fatal road accidents are a common occurrence. \u201cWe could not be experiencing lack of transportation if we had passenger trains available to us. Public transport is so expensive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":9828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-9829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nUnreliable passenger services haunt TransNamib - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ageing and unreliable rolling stock coupled with a largely dilapidated railway line is forcing would-be train passengers ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unreliable passenger services haunt TransNamib\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ageing and unreliable rolling stock coupled with a largely dilapidated railway line is forcing would-be train passengers ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-19T12:15:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-19T13:08:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61e80d2e29dcc.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Unreliable passenger services haunt TransNamib\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-19T12:15:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-19T13:08:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61e80d2e29dcc.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/unreliable-passenger-services-haunt-transnamib\",\"name\":\"Unreliable passenger services haunt TransNamib - 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