Kaiserliche Eisenbahn
The history of rail transport in Namibia began with a small mining rail line at Cape Cross in 1895. The first major railway project was started in 1897 when the German Colonial Authority built the 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) gauge Staatsbahn (State Railway) from Swakopmund to Windhoek. By 1902 the line was completed.
Parallel to this government initiative, the Otavi Mining and Railway Company (O.M.E.G.) was established. It built another 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) gauge line, the Otavibahn, from Swakopmund to Tsumeb via Otavi between 1903 and 1906, and a branch from Otavi to Grootfontein in 1907/08.
The German colonial railway was taken over by the Railways of South Africa after World War I, and linked into the network of South Africa. After the independence of Namibia, TransNamib took control of the national rail network, which, by that time, had long since been converted to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge.
The basic structure of the Namibian railway system dates from the time when the country was a colony of the German Empire known as German South West Africa.
This arid part of the African continent was not very productive for agriculture. Initially, overland transport was operated entirely by ox-cart. A small mining rail line opened at Cape Cross in 1895. Soon afterwards, the ox-cart transport system totally collapsed, in the wake of a rinderpest epidemic in 1897.
As it was necessary to react quickly to the now extremely precarious transport situation, decisions were made:
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