Namibia: 1065mm gauge for new coal line

[Steve Appleton]

Now in amongst all the standard gauge brouhaha pervading South Africa and East Africa, here's a bit of sense at last! 1065mm for the new Namibian coal line.

From Railways Africa http://www.railwaysafrica.com/blog/2010 ... 7mm-gauge/

NAMIBIA’S NEW COAL LINE TO BE 1,067MM GAUGE

Posted on 27 September 2010

The Namibian (published in Windhoek) reports: “The construction of a trans-Kalahari rail link through southern Namibia due to the envisaged exploitation of vast coal deposits in southern Botswana is moving closer to reality with both countries aiming to sign an agreement by the end of next month [October 2010].

“Cabinet approved the joint appointment of a consultant by the Namibian and Botswana governments to prepare the terms of reference (TOR) for the development of the railway line, the information ministry said yesterday [14 September], when releasing the latest cabinet resolutions. A pre-feasibility study on the rail project – funded with a grant from the World Bank – is expected to be completed by next month.

“Once the results of the pre-feasibility study are received, the TOR will be advertised, followed by the short-listing and selection of the successful private company by 31 January 2011. Cabinet directed that the proposed development of the project be done with the rail gauge currently in existence in Botswana and Namibia, to ensure compatibility with the existing infrastructure, the information ministry stated.

“In 2008, various companies made presentations to the ministry of works and transport on the exploitation of coal deposits in Mmamabula, Botswana, as well as the development of a railway link and including a coal export terminal, to export the commodity overseas from Namibian ports. At that time, cabinet established the Namibian technical committee for the rail link. The committee met with its Botswana counterpart as part of the Namibia-Botswana joint technical committee on the Trans-Kalahari Railway link. The railway and the export terminal are to be constructed and run by private companies.

“Botswana was keen, in 2009, to sign letters of acknowledgement with the companies keen to undertake the project, but Namibia refused to this as these were ‘non-legal binding letters’, according to the press release on Cabinet resolutions, ‘and no preference should be given to any companies.’

“Namibia proposed to enter into a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Botswana by 31 October 2010 to develop the trans-Kalahari rail link. ‘The MoU is currently with the Office of the Attorney General for advice and scrutiny. Cabinet granted approval to the minister of works and transport to formalise the development of the rail project by entering into an MoU to this effect by that date. Cabinet furthermore resolved that for the sake of transparency and good governance, an expression of interest (EOI) on the development of the rail link be advertised in the international media during September 2010.’”

[John Ashworth]

Regular readers will be aware of the ongoing (but friendly!) difference of opinion between Steve and myself on gauges. But in this case, where a new line is clearly designed to feed in to the existing extensive Cape Gauge rail network in southern Africa, I agree it makes sense to stick with Cape Gauge.

[Adelbert Stigling]

Would it not be far more economical to link up to TFR infrasructure that has deep water harbours than having to make a new harbour in Namibia and distances to Saldanha ironore line and Richard bay coal line is far less than Walvisbaai, just wondering?

[Aidan McCarthy]

Hi,

Problem is capacity on the Richard bay line and port, SA miners are screaming about lack of capacity restricting their export volumes. Same with the Sishen Saldanha line, also this line is dedicated to iron ore not coal. If this line connects into the SA network SA miners might use it to export coal if feasible.

[Steve Appleton]

Correct, Aiden.
South Africa just does not have the rail or port capacity to handle any more bulk commodities. Coega maybe, but the route there from the far north is very long and I suspect the main line down to PLZ would battle to handle much more that it does at present. Remember that this line already carries block loads of managnese and some coal.
I also suspect a possible political and economic motive too. Such a direct link through Namibia would make Botswana independent of SA and the deep-water port would give considerable shipping independence to Namibia too.

[Adelbert Stigling]

In the early 1980's a special team investigated the deepening of Walvisbaai and this Botswana coal was mentioned, the line from Gobabis all the way down to Walvisbaai will have to be upgraded to handel that trafic, but I must agree it will be very good for both Botswana and Namibia.