State of Namibian railway network

[John Ashworth]

State of Namibian railway network

by Staff Reporter
New Era
30 Mar 2010

WINDHOEK – From the humble beginnings of Namibia’s railway network 112 years ago, it now spans the entire country – from north to south, east to west. In line with Government’s Vision 2030, it is expanding to connect Namibia with its neighbours in addition to the historic railway connection to South Africa.

Modern-day standards in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) require that railway systems be built at 18.5 tonne axle loading standard. This translates into 48 kilogrammes per metre rails welded in continuous lengths, concrete sleepers and good ballast standards that will last 100 years under current traffic conditions.

This standard has been accepted to be the optimum design for general freight in Namibia to ensure safe, efficient and economical rail system over the long-term.

Only 46 percent of the Namibian network complies with this standard. The Namibian network spans a route distance of 2 626 kilometres. This means that 1 203 kilometres have been upgraded to the 18.5-tonne axle load standard.

Of this, 855 km was upgraded before 1988, which is the year TransNamib was founded as a commercial entity.

Since then, only 100 km were upgraded by TransNamib with the Namibian Government constructing the first 248 km of the Northern Railway Extension (NRE) at this standard.

The rest of the network complies only with 16.5-tonne axle loads with some sections even below that – at 15.0 tonne and 13.5 tonne limitations.

Construction work currently underway on the rail network is the reconstruction of the 120-kilometre link between Aus and Lüderitz, and to complete the last 60 km of the NRE up to the Angolan border at Oshikango.

• Legislative framework

Legislative changes came into effect in 1999 with the establishment of the National Transport Services Holding Company that required the rail infrastructure – except for station yards – to be transferred to Government.

TransNamib, as the operator, remained responsible for the maintenance of the rail system with its own generated funds and in accordance with the Rail Management Agreement between Government and TransNamib.

Upgrading of the rail system is also primarily the responsibility of TransNamib. According to the parastatal, this aspect places an unrealistic burden on it because – due to historic reasons – 54 percent of its route distance is classified as sub-standard.

The cost of maintaining the sub-standard sections continues to escalate every year, added to the increased operational risk these sections have for the operator.

TransNamib management has on a number of occasions pointed out that a review of the Maintenance Agreement should be treated as a matter of urgency.

• Rail tonnage

Rail was the predominant carrier of freight in Namibia for most of the 20th century until the 1980s when the transport sector started to be liberalised. This brought about a departure from commercial regulation that favoured the advancement of road transport.

Rail tonnage started to decline from 3.7 million tonnes per annum in 1982 to a mere 1.4 million tonnes in 1999. Thereafter, a recovery to just over two million was achieved in 2005.

The main contributors to the growth over the past decade were the construction and mining sectors.

There were positive developments in particular the uranium mining industry, construction (notably the Ohorongo Cement development) and corridor development sectors.

This has raised the prospects for strong rail volume growth of around 30 to 40 percent over the next five years, provided the required capacity in terms of infrastructure and rolling stock can be established.

• Trade flows

Rail volumes have for a very long time moved predominantly along the South African/Namibian rail corridor through Upington and Ariamsvlei.

This pattern has started to change due to new developments such as the liberalisation of the transport market, shifting of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCC), and other goods to the faster and shorter road options.

Another factor for the change is the development of the Walvis Bay port as a viable option to the South African ports and the development of the Walvis Bay corridor routes.

A third reason is the establishment of the Trans-Kalahari Highway that cuts the road distance between the Gauteng Province in South Africa and Windhoek to 1 500 kilometres. The rail distance hereof is 2 130 kilometres, a difference of 42 percent.

The situation has changed to such an extent that only 24 percent of the total rail volumes now flows along the South African/Namibian rail corridor with the balance predominantly from Walvis Bay.

This trend is expected to continue.

TransNamib said great emphasis therefore needs to be placed on the rail infrastructure linking into Walvis Bay – hence the Windhoek/Walvis Bay and Walvis Bay/Tsumeb/Ondangwa/Oshikango routes.

TransNamib stated that along these routes, the Kranzberg/Tsumeb (392 km) and Walvis Bay/Swakopmund sections require urgent investments of more than N$1.6 billion in total.

• Passenger transport

Historically, regular full service sleeper type passenger trains used to operate between Namibia and South Africa, and within the borders of Namibia.

These services were terminated during the early 1990s due to economic considerations. Then, rail passenger numbers declined drastically.

In 1994, TransNamib introduced the sitter class Starline, as a way to revive the passenger business through a model that would be more cost-effective and thus affordable to the general public.

Passenger numbers started to climb from a very low 45 000 in 1994 to 153 500 in 2000.

There was, however, a decline in passengers since 2000, and a projected passenger figure for 2010 is only 63 000.

There are numerous reasons for this decline. First, is that there is poor timekeeping of trains slowed down due to mechanical failures.

Similarly, long-distance midi buses since introduced are appealing more to passengers for their comfort, speed and flexibility.

There has also been a cancellation of services on the routes of Walvis Bay and Tsumeb due to the dodgy rail track conditions.

Notwithstanding, said TransNamib, its safety record for the conveyance of rail passengers remains sterling.

For a continuous period of 32 years up to the end of 2009, it has not experienced a single fatality or serious injury to its passengers. This means that four million passengers over that period have been accident free.

There was, however, one fatality towards the end of 2009, but TransNamib insists that rail travel still remains the safest mode of transport.

The company is convinced that with improved efficiencies and attention to detail, passenger numbers can be revived again.

• Rolling stock

The TransNamib fleet of locomotives has been in service for more than 42 years. There have been some additions in 2007 with the purchasing of locomotives from China.

Although the old fleet is due for replacement, the company said, it continues to operate these at the expense of high operating costs. Funds are not available for replacement, it said.

To improve the efficiency of the fleet, TransNamib has embarked upon a refurbishment programme in 2009.
This programme covers only 18 locomotives – which is 26 percent of the fleet – and more funds will be required to for the rest of the fleet.

“Railway locomotive technology has advanced a lot over the past four decades and to remain competitive, a strong consideration will be the acquisition of modern-day locomotives and/or the introduction of newer technology in the old fleet,” TransNamib said.

The parastatal’s rail wagon fleet also dates back more than 40 years, and similarly lacks newer technologies such as self-steering logies and heavier axles.

TransNamib said this means an increase in maintenance costs on rolling stocks and the rail track, rending the system less energy-efficient.

• Safety considerations

There has been some sensational reporting on recent rail accidents. But TransNamib countered by saying that benchmarked against the norm set for railways in the SADC region, it has only incurred 2.75 mainline accidents per million train kilometres during the period between 2004 and 2009. The SADC benchmark is 4.0.

TransNamib reported 3.30 yard accidents per 1 000 trains over the same period. Again, the benchmark here is 4.0.

It stated that yard accidents are generally of low impact in terms to the damages or disruption to services.

And over a 32-year period, there has been a loss of three human lives – two crew members and one passenger – due to rail accidents.

Over the last 10 years, there were 19 fatalities due to level crossing accidents. This, TransNamib said, was as a result of road user negligence.

“Rail is undoubtedly still the safest mode of surface transport if the tonnage transported accident-free and minimal fatalities are taken into account,” said TransNamib.

However, it said the issue of TransNamib Holding’s self regulating status regarding public rail safety still remains a cause of concern and calls for the establishment of a national rail safety regulatory body.

• Road versus rail modal split

TransNamib said it is important for Government to realise the external costs imposed by road transport against that of rail.

External costs – like accidents, policing, congestion and environmental degradation – are not made for by the direct transport mode users. This is paid by the general public through tax collection.

A study by the Rail Road Association in South Africa shows external costs of road amount to 15.6 cents per net ton per kilometer compared to 1.8 cents for rail. This situation is also relevant in Namibia.

“These hidden costs serve to benefit the one transport mode at the expense of the other. It is therefore shortsighted to let a national rail system degenerate as a huge price will be paid by society and the economy in the long run,” said TransNamib.

Hence, it proposed that the value of each transport mode – be it road or rail – be assessed in terms of long-term sustainability.

• The future

The future growth of the national rail network, said the parastatal, depends on a number of things. These include, among others, pro-rail Government policies; more investment in the rail network; investment and the introduction of new technologies in the rolling stock; a growing capacity to respond to the growing need for bulk transport in Namibia; and greater investment in skills development appropriate to the uniqueness of rail transport.

A viable alternative for railway infrastructure, it said, is public private partnerships, because it represents a method of procurement that brings together the two sectors in a long-term partnership for mutual benefit.

TranNamib Holdings will explore modules of public private partnership, it said concession and divestiture appear to be a distant consideration if not the least appealing alternatives.

And, it argued, (public private partnerships) PPPs would be beneficial after years of budgetary constraints of the sole shareholder [Government], leading to insufficient investment in the rail network and rolling stock.

Moreover, it argued, there is a growing reliance on public funds. This has meant that TransNamib – like other State-owned enterprises – has to scramble for limited budgetary allocations, despite the fact that Government spending on TransNamib “appears to be minimal since its commercialisation”.

Another consideration is the loss of infrastructure performance, and thus growing safety considerations, as well as a loss of revenue and market share.

Between 1998 and 2004, TransNamib got a cash injection of N$250 million from Government. Except for 2004, when it generated sufficient revenue to cover operating expenses – mostly due to asset realization – its financial performance has been on the decline.

This, it said, will not only have a negative impact on NamPort, but also on the general safety and conditions of road infrastructure and the environment.

Similarly, rail tonnage has been declining since liberalisation of the transport sector with the roads operations taking the lion’s share of the transport market.

“To get out of this vicious cycle, public private partnerships therefore need to be considered and new ways of funding need to be explored,” said the company.

It has, however, taken cognisance of the fact that any PPP cannot be implemented in isolation of the shareholder’s support, as was proven in other African countries where concessions were granted to private rail operators.

“The Namibian Government as the sole shareholder still needs to play an integral part in the railway operations,” it said.