{"id":5233,"date":"2017-05-04T22:19:13","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T20:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.knottinbotswana.com\/?p=5233"},"modified":"2017-05-04T22:32:28","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T20:32:28","slug":"foreign-traffic-on-botswana-rails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.knottinbotswana.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/foreign-traffic-on-botswana-rails\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Traffic On Botswana Rails"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some time before Easter I was proceeding along the A1 between Gaborone and Francistown when I saw a train being hauled north by non-Botswana Railways locomotives, did a bit of research based on the “AR&TS” livery and found they belong to a railway service company, African Rail and Traction Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Couple of weeks later, heading back to Gaborone after Easter and we found the same train heading south from Mahalapye.  Having time on our hands we put some distance between us and the train, and then found a convenient gate out of the road reserve with a dirt track up to the railway line and took a few pictures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ex-Queensland Railways class 2600, units 2609 and 2606, owned by African Rail & Traction Services passing through Botswana with grain wagons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Some more research and I was able to establish that the wagons belong to Transnet freight rail<\/a>, and grain is one of the commodities they transport<\/a> throughout southern Africa.<\/p>\n

What I’m not sure about is why the train was being hauled by hired locomotives, I’ve never seen non-Botswana Railways locomotives on the rails here, so I assume they are hired to substitute for BR locomotives damaged in recent<\/a> train<\/a> crashes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the articles above suggests that goods transit Botswana en-route to Zimbabwe, and presumably other rail-connected countries to the north.  There is also a privately operated route to the north via Beitbridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the trainspotters the following wagons were identified from photographs, not a complete listing of the consist however:<\/p>\n