# BOTSWANA | Railways



## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Illegal sand excavators derail Botswana railways *
Sunday Standard _Excerpt_
Oct 4, 2020

Botswana Railways (BR) is worried that illegal sand mining along the country's railway line poses a risk to the safety of Botswana trains. BR chief executive officer (CEO), Leonard Makwinja on Friday slammed illegal sand miners who are digging dangerous pits along the railway line.

The BR CEO, Board Chairman and their team visited the Boatle railway line to witness the ongoing illegal sand mining that has left huge pit-like holes near the railway line. The excavation exposes the railwayline to be washed away by flood waters and is a perfect trap for domestic animals to drown in pools of water created from the unregulated digging.

The CEO expressed displeasure at the illegal activity as it has the potential to cause train derailments. He called on the public to desist from illegally mining sand and to report culprits to the police.

More : Illegal sand excavators derail Botswana railways | Sunday Standard


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## mariusvonbucovina (Jan 27, 2011)

Some pictures of the line in Gaborone taken in Feb-May 2021:


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## mariusvonbucovina (Jan 27, 2011)

Some pictures of the line south of Gaborone (Notwane area), taken in April 2021.
Towards south (direction Lobatse):








Towards north (direction Gaborone):









Detail of the road passage over the railway:


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## Guajiro1 (Dec 23, 2012)

Great pictures and thank you for keeping us updated! Greetings from Argentina!


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## mariusvonbucovina (Jan 27, 2011)

Pictures of the line in Gaborone (July 2021):

Signal north of the main railway station (direction north, Palapye):









Signal just north of the main railway station (direction south):









Detail of the lines:


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## Wallarch (Aug 11, 2018)

mariusvonbucovina said:


> Pictures of the line in Gaborone (July 2021):


Thanks for the photos  Are you Romanian by any chance?


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## mariusvonbucovina (Jan 27, 2011)

Wallarch said:


> Thanks for the photos


You're all welcome. I regret now it didn't occur me earlier to post pictures of railways from "exotic" countries.



Wallarch said:


> Are you Romanian by any chance?


Yes, I am 😇


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## Wallarch (Aug 11, 2018)

mariusvonbucovina said:


> Yes, I am 😇


It's amazing you're living in Botswana now! Looks like a beautiful country and more developed than I assumed (on par with South Africa from what I see). How did you decide to move there? Did you live first in South Africa?


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## mariusvonbucovina (Jan 27, 2011)

Wallarch said:


> It's amazing you're living in Botswana now! Looks like a beautiful country and more developed than I assumed (on par with South Africa from what I see). How did you decide to move there? Did you live first in South Africa?


Beautiful country, yes, thanks to the wildlife. 
Developed? It's relative, even for African standards. Demography beats everything - 2.3 mil inhabitants in country the size of France casts its limitations in development ... On paper it's a middle-income country, but the wealth distribution is bad (see the Gini coefficient). 
BW depends much on South Africa, almost everything is imported from there. With the goods and the bads (imagine what happens when the borders close).

For the rest - let's move the discussion in private.

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To stay on-topic - every other day a freight train with coal passes Gaborone, on the way to the Morupule Power Plant:


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## lunarwhite (Jun 18, 2014)

Botswana and South Africa will.improve trans border links and build a new one.

South Africa and Botswana to improve rail freight links


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