TransNamib’s Starliner ‘slow train to nowhere’

TRANSNAMIB was left with egg on its face last week after a train from Walvis Bay to Windhoek was not only delayed by five hours, but then travelled less than 60 km in the next five hours, a situation that had passengers on board fuming.

According to one man who says he was forced to pick up his wife from the Arandis station after putting her on a train to Windhoek from Swakopmund the night before, TransNamib’s Starliner rail service has seen the last of his family. When the woman bought her ticket on Tuesday afternoon, she was told the departure time would be 20h45, the angry Swakopmund resident said.They arrived at the station with time to spare, he said, only to find themselves still there two hours later.”At 24h00, we returned home and I phoned an after-hours number at Walvis Bay and I was told that the Windhoek train will depart from there in 10 minutes’ time and should be in Swakopmund at about 01h30, as there had been a problem with the locomotive,” he said.The train eventually arrived from Walvis Bay at 01h50, he said, and left Swakopmund shortly afterwards.”Shortly before 07h00 (the next day) she phoned me to say they have stopped a few kilometres before Arandis,” the man said.Arandis is about 60 km from Swakopmund.Passengers had apparently been told that “these Chinese locomotives don’t have enough power to pull the load,” the woman said upon enquiry.As she had an appointment to keep in Windhoek, her husband drove from Swakopmund, picked her up at Arandis and drove her to Windhoek himself, the couple say.”When earlier I had suggested she go by road she said that the train was not only safer but it was cheaper.Well, this has cost me the train ticket, a day’s pay and petrol there and back, plus the frustrating waiting time,” the man said.”This is one family that the Starliner will not be seeing again,” he said.TransNamib yesterday apologised for the inconvenience and promised a full refund of the woman’s ticket price.”On June 2007, our locomotives from Walvis Bay were delayed due to technical problems, and not because they are Chinese locomotives,” TransNamib spokesperson Ritha Nghiitwikwa said in a written statement.The company had eventually hired a bus to pick up passengers at the Kranzberg siding and convey them to Windhoek, she said.”This we do every time we experience technical problems on our trains,” the company stated.”There is no lack of concern on our part, otherwise we would not have hired a bus to bring passengers to Windhoek.At the same time, TransNamib apologises for any inconvenience the delay may have caused,” the company said.When the woman bought her ticket on Tuesday afternoon, she was told the departure time would be 20h45, the angry Swakopmund resident said.They arrived at the station with time to spare, he said, only to find themselves still there two hours later.”At 24h00, we returned home and I phoned an after-hours number at Walvis Bay and I was told that the Windhoek train will depart from there in 10 minutes’ time and should be in Swakopmund at about 01h30, as there had been a problem with the locomotive,” he said.The train eventually arrived from Walvis Bay at 01h50, he said, and left Swakopmund shortly afterwards.”Shortly before 07h00 (the next day) she phoned me to say they have stopped a few kilometres before Arandis,” the man said.Arandis is about 60 km from Swakopmund.Passengers had apparently been told that “these Chinese locomotives don’t have enough power to pull the load,” the woman said upon enquiry.As she had an appointment to keep in Windhoek, her husband drove from Swakopmund, picked her up at Arandis and drove her to Windhoek himself, the couple say.”When earlier I had suggested she go by road she said that the train was not only safer but it was cheaper.Well, this has cost me the train ticket, a day’s pay and petrol there and back, plus the frustrating waiting time,” the man said.”This is one family that the Starliner will not be seeing again,” he said.TransNamib yesterday apologised for the inconvenience and promised a full refund of the woman’s ticket price.”On June 2007, our locomotives from Walvis Bay were delayed due to technical problems, and not because they are Chinese locomotives,” TransNamib spokesperson Ritha Nghiitwikwa said in a written statement.The company had eventually hired a bus to pick up passengers at the Kranzberg siding and convey them to Windhoek, she said.”This we do every time we experience technical problems on our trains,” the company stated.”There is no lack of concern on our part, otherwise we would not have hired a bus to bring passengers to Windhoek.At the same time, TransNamib apologises for any inconvenience the delay may have caused,” the company said.

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