Pretoria–Maputo railway, also called Delagoa Bay railway, Iron railway and Eastern railway, is a railway that connects the city of

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,08 ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...

, to the city of

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

, in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. It is 567 km long, in 1067 mm gauge.Mozambique Logistics Infrastructure: Mozambique Railway Assessment
Atlassian Confluence. 10 de dezembro de 2018. The Mozambican section, between Maputo and Ressano Garcia, is managed by the state-owned

Mozambique Ports and Railways Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (abbreviated CFM; in English Mozambique Ports and Railways) is a state-owned company that oversees the railway system of Mozambique and its connected ports. The rail system is composed of a total of 2,9 ...

(CFM) company, and it is officially known in Mozambique as the Ressano Garcia Line; in turn, on the South African stretch, between the town of Komatipoort and city of

, the administration is done by the company

Transnet Freight Rail Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

. Its main maritime logistics facilities is the

Port of Maputo The Port of Maputo, also called the Maputo-Matola port complex, is a Mozambican port located in the cities of Maputo and Matola. They are installed in Maputo Bay, on the north bank of the Espírito Santo estuary, which is separated from the Mozam ...

History

The construction of a railway line to connect the

Republic of Transvaal The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it ...

to the port of Lourenço Marques, in

Portuguese East Africa Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally ...

, was preceded by a long planning phase. The Pretoria government tendered the project, winning the concession for a private railway company in 1870, promising areas of 850 farms as payment guarantee. The construction project had to be postponed because the licensed company was unable to obtain the capital initially required. After several years of preparation, the government decided to take control of the construction in 1876. The Portuguese engineer and officer Joaquim José Machado carried out a new survey of land in 1881 and 1882 to find an ideal route, as some gold fields on both sides of the Crocodile River should have easy access to a rail connection.Anonymus, . Haevernick ''Die Goldfelder von Transvaal. Begleitworte zur Karte''. In: Dr. A. Petermanns Mitteilungen, 31. Bd.,

Justus Perthes Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749, Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – 2 May 1816, Gotha, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg) was a German publisher and founder of the publishing house that bears his name. Life He was born in the Thuringian t ...

, Gotha 1885, S. 89 In 1872, the colonial administration of Mozambique granted, for the first time, a concession to build a railway line from Maputo to Pretoria. A corresponding agreement was concluded in 1875 between the government of the Republic of Transvaal and that of Portuguese East Africa. However, it was only on March 1, 1890, that the route from Maputo to the Mozambican border station Ressano Garcia was opened.Portugiesisch-Ostafrika: Mosambik
In: Viktor von Röll (Hrsg.)
Enzyklopädie des Eisenbahnwesens
2. Auflage. Band 8: Personentunnel–Schynige Platte-Bahn. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin/Wien 1917, S. 94 f. An obstacle to route planning on the South African side was the steep mountain positions and the deep valleys near Komatipoort, in the area of the Crocodile River. These terrain characteristics also delayed the construction of an efficient road. In addition, in the 1880s, a financing contract worth half a million pounds on the

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

capital market A capital market is a financial market in which long-term debt (over a year) or equity-backed securities are bought and sold, in contrast to a money market where short-term debt is bought and sold. Capital markets channel the wealth of saver ...

was eventually lost. Construction began on June 2, 1887, and was completed after seven years on October 20, 1894, so that the entire route was opened to traffic on November 2, 1894. The official opening took place on July 8, 1895, in a ceremony chaired by the president of Transvaal

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and President of the South African Republic (o ...

, attended by the Mozambican colonial administrator António Enes. On the South African side the line was operated by the Netherlands–South African Railway Company - NZASM (''Nederlandsch-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatschappij'').Donald Frank Holland: Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 1: 1859–1910, Seite 115–117, 126. David & Charles, 1971, After the end of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, the railroad was transferred to the private company

Central South African Railways The Central South African Railways (CSAR) was from 1902 to 1910 the operator of public railways in the Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony in what is now South Africa. During the Anglo-Boer War, as British forces moved into the territory of ...

and from 1910 to the state-owned company Railways of South Africa. In the course of a government policy aimed at economic self-sufficiency under P. W. Botha, coupled with the changing political situation in South Africa (increasingly isolated due to

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

), the construction of the Komatipoort railway began in 1983, passing through

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its ...

; connecting with the Goba railway, another extension was made, giving rise to the Richards Bay railway, which connects to the Port of Richards Bay (then Natal Province). Products from Eastern South Africa could thus be disposed of in politically safe territory, in a specific sea port.

Railway branches

The Pretoria–Maputo railway has six important branches: * Kaapmuiden–Barberton branch: connects the town of Kaapmuiden to the town of Barberton. *

Burgersfort Burgersfort is located in the valley of the Spekboom River at the edge of the Bushveld Complex in the Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality, near the border of the two provinces Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The town was named after a hexagonal fort bu ...

branch: connects the town of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

to the mines of Tubatse Ferrochrome. * Middelburg branch: connects the town of Middelburg to the town of

Roossenekal Roossenekal is a town in Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Village on the western slopes of the Steenkampsberg Steenkampsberg ( af, Steenkampsberge) is a South African mountain in the Dullstroom - Belf ...

(mines of Mapochs Magnetite Iron). * Cullinan branch: connects the town of

Rayton Rayton is a town in North-Eastern Gauteng which started out as a tin shack mining town on the farm Elandshoek. During its boom days the town served the needs of thousands of diggers and prospectors working for the Schiller, Montrose and Dunmore m ...

to the

Cullinan Diamond Mine The Premier Mine is an underground diamond mine owned by Petra Diamonds in the town of Cullinan, east of Pretoria, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Established in 1902, it was renamed the Cullinan Diamond Mine in November 2003 in celebra ...

. * Tshwane branch: in the city of

Tshwane The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane) () is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng Province, South Africa. The Metropolitan area is centred on the city of P ...

to the town of

Ekangala Ekangala is a large township falling under the City of Tshwane in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It lies remotely in Gauteng, tucked into the border with Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East" ...

. * Koedoespoort maneuver and repair rail branch: in the city of Pretoria.

Railway connections

, the Pretoria–Maputo line connects with the Limpopo railwayTwo empires, two railway projects
United World. 8 november 2021. and the

Goba railway Goba railway, also called Swaziland-Maputo railway and Matsapha-Maputo railway, is a railway that connects the city of Maputo, Mozambique, to the city from Matsapha, in Eswatini. It is 466.8 km long, in a 1067 mm gauge.Komatipoort, the Pretoria–Maputo line connects with the Komatipoort railway. In

Matsulu Matsulu is a township in the Mbombela Local Municipality under the Ehlanzeni District Municipality in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. It lies next to the N4 national road 41 km east of Nelspruit (Mbombela) CBD, 3 km before the ...

/ Kaapmuiden, the Pretoria–Maputo line connects with the Morebeng–Matsulu railway. In

Machadodorp Machadodorp, also known by its official name eNtokozweni, is a small town situated on the N4 road, near the edge of the escarpment in the Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The Elands River runs through the town. There is a natural radioactive sp ...

, the Pretoria–Maputo line connects with the Machadodorp–Ermelo railway. In Wonderfontein, the Pretoria–Maputo line connects with the Koornfontein railway. In

Witbank Witbank (), officially Emalahleni, is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the Emalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for "white ridge", and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where w ...

, the Pretoria–Maputo line connects with the Witbank-Klipspruit railway. In

, the Pretoria–Maputo line connects with the Sentrarand railway (Pretoria-

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

Railway Arch) and

Cape to Cairo Railway The Cape to Cairo Railway was an unfinished project to create a railway line crossing Africa from south to north. It would have been the largest and most important railway of that continent. It was planned as a link between Cape Town in Sout ...

(known in the city as

Metrorail Gauteng Metrorail Gauteng is a network of commuter rail services in Gauteng province in South Africa, serving the Johannesburg and Pretoria metro areas. It is operated by Metrorail, a division of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). Metror ...

, part of south-eastern section of the Cape to Cairo Railway).

Main railway stations

The main railway stations of the Pretoria–Maputo railway are: *

* Moamba * Ressano Garcia * Komatipoort *

Mbombela Mbombela (also known as Nelspruit) is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River, Mbombela lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, east of Johannesburg and north ...

(Nelspruit) *

* Middelburg *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pretoria-Maputo railway 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Mozambique 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in South Africa Railway lines in Mozambique