The first railway lines in present day Namibia were built during German colonisation. History of railway in Namibia began with a small railway mining line in Cape Cross in 1895. In 1902 main railway line from Swakopmund to Windhoek was completed. In the following years, several other railway lines were built. After World War II present day Namibia rail network was taken by Railways of South Africa and linked into existing South Africa railway network.
Namibia gained his indenpedence in 1990 and TransNamib took control of the national rail network. The Namibian rail network consists of more than 2600 route-km of tracks.
Last update: 29.01.2024
Train travel in Namibia – current situation
It is unknown whether passenger trains in Namibia were resumed after pandemic of coronavirus. Trains were temporarily resumed during festive season from 22th December to 8th January 2023, but ended. Trains ran on routes from from Windhoek to Walvis Bay, Keetmanshoop and Oshikango. It seems that TransNamib has a problem with locomotive capacity.
Trains in Namibia are operated by state-owned company TransNamib. Information on company’s website are outdated.
Before all passenger services were suspended, passengers could travel by StarLine trains composed of Economy class and Business Class carriages with aircraft-style reclining seats. All carriages were equipped with air-conditioning, vending machines and audio-visual entertainment systems.
There were also excursion trains, for example Desert Express. The train composed of sleeping cars offered overnight weekend trips between Windhoek and Swakopmund and 7 to 10 day excursions.
There are no international trains, except luxury cruise trains such as Rovos Rail and Shongololo.
TransNamib – official website
Map of railway network in Namibia (Wikipedia)
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