TransNamib to expand rail transportation

TRANSNAMIB has embarked on a four-year expansion and refurbishment programme of its existing 45 electric locomotives, which will provide Namibia with a modern fleet of trains and wagons.

This was revealed by TransNamib Chief Executive Officer, John Shaetonhodi, in Windhoek last week at the commissioning of the first locomotive to be assembled in the country. He said since the country’s economy had grown steadily for the last 14 years, the flow of cargo movement in and out of the country had also increased.”To maintain this growth more trains transporting goods are needed to ensure the continuous success of TransNamib as the national carrier of the country.”To run more trains we need more locomotive power, as we are restricted with just 45 ageing locomotives.We had to increase the locomotive power with the constraints on our capital expenditure and time, ” Shaetonhodi said.TransNamib ordered four new locomotives and decided to rebuild two locomotives from a heap of scrap that had been written off by insurance.Due to a shortage of appropriately skilled manpower in refurbishing locomotives, TransNamib has hired 11 technical personnel from the Chinese government.The refurbishment of a locomotive costs approximately N$1,3 million compared to the cost of a new general electric locomotive which is around N$21 million.Shaetonhodi also said there was need to modernise the current passenger transport capacity, adding that the modernisation programme would require approximately N$250 million in the next three years.Of this development he said, “This demands of us to put up financing arrangements for us to be able to realise these objectives.”In his address, the Minister of Works, Transport and Communications, Dr Moses Amweelo, expressed gratitude to TransNamib staff and the Chinese technicians.”One of the priorities of the Namibian Government is to provide proper rail infrastructure in order to expand the economy of our country, and improve the living standards of all our people.”A logical means of doing this would be to improve the transportation network, and investing in new and refurbishment of the rolling stock would be a major step,” said Amweelo.Amweelo said his Ministry was complementing the efforts of TransNamib with the Northern Railway Extension Project and the upgrading of the Aus-Lüderitz railway network.The ambassador of China to Namibia, Mr Liang Yin Zhu was also present at the commissioning.He said since the country’s economy had grown steadily for the last 14 years, the flow of cargo movement in and out of the country had also increased.”To maintain this growth more trains transporting goods are needed to ensure the continuous success of TransNamib as the national carrier of the country.”To run more trains we need more locomotive power, as we are restricted with just 45 ageing locomotives.We had to increase the locomotive power with the constraints on our capital expenditure and time, ” Shaetonhodi said.TransNamib ordered four new locomotives and decided to rebuild two locomotives from a heap of scrap that had been written off by insurance.Due to a shortage of appropriately skilled manpower in refurbishing locomotives, TransNamib has hired 11 technical personnel from the Chinese government.The refurbishment of a locomotive costs approximately N$1,3 million compared to the cost of a new general electric locomotive which is around N$21 million.Shaetonhodi also said there was need to modernise the current passenger transport capacity, adding that the modernisation programme would require approximately N$250 million in the next three years.Of this development he said, “This demands of us to put up financing arrangements for us to be able to realise these objectives.”In his address, the Minister of Works, Transport and Communications, Dr Moses Amweelo, expressed gratitude to TransNamib staff and the Chinese technicians.”One of the priorities of the Namibian Government is to provide proper rail infrastructure in order to expand the economy of our country, and improve the living standards of all our people.”A logical means of doing this would be to improve the transportation network, and investing in new and refurbishment of the rolling stock would be a major step,” said Amweelo.Amweelo said his Ministry was complementing the efforts of TransNamib with the Northern Railway Extension Project and the upgrading of the Aus-Lüderitz railway network.The ambassador of China to Namibia, Mr Liang Yin Zhu was also present at the commissioning.