The Maseru branch line is a railway line that connects

Maseru Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. T ...

, the capital of

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

, to the railway network of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Overview

It branches from the

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

–

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

line at

Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...

, Free State, and runs in a south-easterly direction for to the

Caledon River The Caledon River () is a major river located in central South Africa. Its total length is , rising in the Drakensberg Mountains on the Lesotho border, flowing southwestward and then westward before joining the Orange River near Bethulie in the ...

. After crossing the river, which serves as the border with Lesotho, the line runs for through an industrial area of Maseru, serving the city's station and various factories and depots. The line is owned by Transnet Freight Rail of South Africa; it has freight service but no regular passenger trains. Construction on the Bloemfontein–Bethlehem railway line, intended to link the

Orange River Colony The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after Britain first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the Unio ...

(as it was then known) with the port of

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, began in 1902 under the direction of the Central South African Railways. By June 1904 it was open from Bloemfontein as far as Modderpoort. In order to make the line viable, it was desired that it should serve Maseru, but for the sake of economy it was decided to build the main line along a shorter route and connect Maseru by a branch line. The line from Marseilles to Maseru, including a new bridge over the Caledon River, was opened on 18 December 1905.

References

* {{cite book , first=J.N.C , last=Boonzaaier , title=Tracks Across the Veld , year=2008 , isbn=978-0-620-41711-2 , page=245 Railway lines in South Africa Rail transport in Lesotho 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in South Africa

Overview

See also

References