Namibia Railway Upgrading Works and Some Unique Modular Track System Construction
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Namibia railway upgrading works and some unique modular track system construction AUTHOR Railway operations in Namibia are provided by Namibia gained independence from South Africa TransNamib Holdings Ltd formed in 1998, and on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War Phil Kirkland wholly owned by the Government. Namibia’s rail of Independence. Its capital and largest city is CEng MICE, FPWI network consists of 2,382 route-km of tracks. Windhoek and Namibia is now a member state of PWI Vice President This number continues to increase as the rail the United Nations (UN). (North England infrastructure continues to grow at a healthy rate. Sections) Namibia has a history of more than 100 years Namibia is a truly spectacular place, with the cool of railway service. During the colonialisation by Atlantic breeze to the west and hot deserts to the Phil is an experienced the German Empire between 1894 and 1915, a east. The Namib Desert is an important location Railway Engineer of number of railways were built, of which some are for the mining of tungsten, salt and diamonds. The 47 years continuous still in service today. See image 1. sand dunes, some of which are 300 metres (980 service, beginning in 1973 with British Rail in ft.) high and span 32 kilometres (20 mi) long, are Newcastle and more recently retiring as Head INTRODUCTION the second largest in the world. of Maintenance Delivery at Nexus Metro (Tyne and Wear PTE). In preparing this particularly challenging paper Temperatures along the coast are stable and returning again to the African continent, making quite unique for these latitudes, generally ranging Phil has worked in the rail industry worldwide, professional and industry contacts and obtaining between 9–20 °C (48–68 °F) annually due to specifically in the areas of track inspection, any real information has proved to be a particular the influence of the cold, north flowing Benguela maintenance, renewal, mechanised issue! I am indebted to the Namibian High current of the Atlantic Ocean. Further inland maintenance, high output systems, railway Commission in London who sourced and secured temperatures are variable - summer daytime rules, regulations, policies, processes and all some excellent support for the PWI and me temperatures can exceed 45 °C (113 °F) while safety matters. personally. nights can be freezing. The Kalahari Desert is also a large semi-arid sandy savanna extending NAMIBIA for 900,000 square kilometres (350,000 sq. mi), covering much of Botswana, parts of Namibia and I thought it prudent to spend a little time regions of South Africa. All of this of course truly describing Namibia, its location and history, in presents real challenges for railway operations, order to put the subject of railways in context. engineering, construction, inspection and Namibia is officially a Republic, and a country maintenance! within Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean; it shares land borders with In 1966, South West Africa People’s Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to Organisation’s (SWAPO) military wing, the the east and South Africa to the south and east. People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than began guerrilla attacks on South African forces, 200 metres of the Zambezi River separates the infiltrating the territory from bases in Zambia. two countries. After neighbouring Angola became independent in 1975, SWAPO established bases in the southern part of the country. Hostilities intensified over the years. It took, however, until 1990 for Namibia to gain independence. On 1 March 1994, the coastal area of Walvis Bay and 12 offshore islands were additionally transferred to Namibia by South Africa. Images 1: The railways of Namibia (images left and right: WCM). 14 RAILWAYS AND OPERATIONS After the independence of Namibia, the State- owned enterprise TransNamib took control of the national rail network that operates on 3 ft. 6 in (1,067 mm) track gauge, often referred to as ‘Cape gauge’. TransNamib is headquartered in Windhoek and Namibia is well connected in terms of railway infrastructure. The Rail network stretches from the South (South African border) to the Northern part of the country (Angolan border) and from the middle of the country to its coast and harbour towns. There are aspirations too for new rail links with neighbouring Botswana and perhaps Zambia. TransNamib operates 2,382 km of route in a country of 825,000 sq.km (by comparison the UK has approx.15,800 km of route in a country of 250,000sq km). While business focus has been primarily on freight services, passenger TransNamib freight train approaches Windhoek, Namibia (image: Jon-Erik Munro). services are becoming a growing element of the TransNamib business, with the introduction of the timetabled ‘Starline’ passenger services and the ‘Desert Express’ tourist train in 1998, linking Windhoek and Swakopmund. The privately run Rovos Rail ‘Pride of Africa’ luxury train has also reached Namibian rails. Focus is also now on the possible future provision of commuter services perhaps in the capital Windhoek and surrounding areas, and in the north. The current railway routes within Namibia (see Armoured track inspection vehicle. Existing steel sleeper T Bolt housing wear. map at image 1) are: • Windhoek-Kranzberg: 210 kilometres (130 mi) long and completed in 1902. • Kranzberg-Walvis Bay: 201 kilometres (125 mi) long. In 1914 an extension to Walvis Bay was commissioned; the rails were laid close to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1980 this extension was replaced by an alternative route behind the dunes that allowed for higher axle load. More conventional Suzuki Jimny RRV. Existing poor quality track assemblies. • Kranzberg-Otavi: 328 kilometres (204 mi) long and completed in 1906. (Images above: WCM/D&M Rail Construction and WCM/Rűchel Burkhart). • Otavi-Grootfontein: 91 kilometres (57 mi) long and completed in 1908. • Seeheim-Aus- Lüderitz: 318 kilometres (198 mi) long. The connection between Lüderitz and Aus completed in 1906. The extension to Seeheim was completed in 1908. Eventually the service between Aus and Lüderitz was decommissioned. The line to Lüderitz was reopened in 2018. • (Uppington) Nakop-Windhoek: 869 kilometres (540 mi) long. The section between Karasburg and Windhoek was completed by 1912, with the extension to Uppington (South Africa) built in 1915. • Otjiwarongo-Outjo: 69 kilometres (43 mi) long. The first 26 kilometres (16 mi) were completed under the German colonial administration in 1914/1915. The link to Outjo was completed in 1921 under 30 PWay staff offloading rails by hand as part of a planned track renewal South African rule. (image: WCM/ D&M Rail Construction). 15 Maintenance rehabilitation works to existing track. Maintenance rehabilitation works to existing track. Manually offloading concrete sleepers. Manually offloading rails. Track renewal bottom ballast – rough grading. Track renewal manual installation of sleepers and rails. T r a c k R e n e w a l T o p b a l l a s t – b a l l a s t t r a i n a n d h o p p e r s . Track Renewal Tamping and lining –Plasser 07 series. High quality CWR track installation, northern line, Namibia. (Images above: WCM/D&M Rail Construction). • Windhoek-Gobabis: 228 kilometres (142 mi) long and completed in 1930. • Tsumeb - Ondangwa Oshikango, Oshakati: commencing in 2005, a new northern extension railway was built between Tsumeb (the existing terminus) to Oshikango and Oshakati approaching the Angolan Border. The project was delivered in three key stages: 1. Tsumeb to Ondangwa 250 Km 2. Ondangwa to Oshikango 59 Km 3. Ondangwa to Oshakati 58 Km To complete the project, a connection from Oshikango to a point near Cassinga, Angola is planned on Angola’s southern railway system. This new line will link up with the rail system of Angola, (which still needs to be rehabilitated - another Journal article perhaps!) and would enable Angola to export iron ore mined near Cassinga through Namibia via Walvis Bay to countries abroad. In more recent and very forward-looking times, Botswana Railways signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2015 with its Namibian counterpart state owned TransNamib to facilitate the joint development of the Trans- TransNamib Plasser and Theurer 08-16 SH (Split Head) Tamping machine - Note that the actual Kalahari railway which will cost US$ 9.5bn. machine shown is built for Argentina but is similar specification to Namibian machine (image: WCM/Plasser SA). 16 Factory-assembled TMT panel showing cable ducting Image: WCM/T-Track Global Ltd. TMT (Tubular Modular Track) T-Track system Diagram 1: Comparable construction volumes TRACK CONSTRUCTION AND installed on the Aus to Luderitz railway (two (image: WCM/T-Track Global Ltd.). MAINTENANCE images above: WCM/T-Track Global Ltd.). One of the biggest social issues in Namibia is the critical public health issue of HIV/AIDS. While the disease has declined in prevalence, Namibia still has some of the highest rates of HIV of any country in the world. 13.8 percent of the adult population between the ages of 15 and 49 are infected. This is a significant issue and risk for any transient work force (either internal or external) engaged in railway construction works. There was also a dearth of skills, and the track on much of the network was in poor shape. The railway suffered from archaic systems, embedded in the 60s and 70s. Policies, processes and procedures all needed updating. Computerisation, mechanised maintenance equipment, technical Diagram showing how elevated rail seat sleeper air gap technology works (image: WCM/ K understanding and safety management Reissburger). systems were all very much required, and there is still work in progress. To change would be The likely railway line would traverse the vast Development in Africa and the Kuwait Fund for a slow process and contrary to the current semi-arid Kalahari Desert and has the potential Arab Economic Development.