Republikein Newspaper

TransNamib has suspended all its passenger services following the derailment of a train in southern Namibia.

The train derailed on a bridge some 45 kilometres outside Tses in the ||Kharas Region on 23 December. At the time, the police said the structure of the bridge had been compromised as heavy rains had been received in the area.

TransNamib Corporate Communications Manager, Abigail Raubenheimer, said they decided on suspending their services to allow for the section where the derailment occurred, to be repaired.

She said most of the demand for the passenger services was for the southern line, but TransNamib decided to suspend all services due to the heavy rainfall being experienced countrywide.

“Taking the safety of passengers into consideration, we do not want to take any chances. Moreover, with all the work we have in the south all our resources are now focused on fixing the southern line. Our resources are also a bit limited and that is why we thought its best to suspend services countrywide for now,” Raubenheimer said, adding that the heavy rains that fell in the south over the past week also caused a lot of damage to sections of the line.

When asked when services will resume, Raubenheimer said it is difficult to say as the start of the repairs will be determined by when the rain stops.

“We are busy working on assessing the damage and coming up with a timeframe,” she said.

She however said once a decision has been taken to resume passenger services the relevant information will be communicated to the public.

TransNamib offers daily passenger train services between Windhoek and all major towns connected to the rail system at the coast and in the southern and northern parts of Namibia. - Nampa