Namibia’s Railway Transport Rebounds Strongly as Overall Transport Growth Slows
Railway transport recorded a strong recovery in 2025, emerging as one of the best-performing subsectors within Namibia’s transport industry, according to the Annual National Accounts 2025 released by the Namibia Statistics Agency.
The data shows that railway transport grew by 12.4% in real value added, a sharp turnaround from the 8.3% contraction recorded in 2024.
This rebound was mainly driven by an increase in cargo volumes handled, signalling improved activity in bulk freight movement and rail logistics during the year under review.
In July last year, Minister of Works and Transport, Veikko Nekundi, disclosed that Namibia’s state railway company, TransNamib, had, over the past three years, transported an average of 1.3 to 1.5 million tonnes of freight annually, amounting to only 12% of the total national freight volume.
Nekundi disclosed that the national desired outcome is for Namibia to have a safe and reliable rail transport infrastructure. The government plans to construct, upgrade, and maintain railway infrastructure for a safe and efficient railway network that supports socio-economic development.
According to the Annual National Accounts 2025, despite this strong performance in rail, the broader transport and storage sector experienced a significant slowdown.
The sector recorded overall growth of 1.9% in 2025, compared to a much higher 10.7% expansion in 2024.
The slowdown was largely attributed to weak performance in key subsectors, particularly freight transport by road, which posted marginal growth of 0.2%, down from 9.7% in the previous year. Air transport also lost momentum, growing by just 1.3% during the period.
Meanwhile, other parts of the transport ecosystem recorded declines, with port services contracting by 10.1% and airport services falling by 5.6%, further weighing on the sector’s overall performance.
Overall, while the railway subsector showed notable resilience and recovery in 2025, the wider transport industry faced headwinds, reflecting uneven performance across logistics channels and a broader cooling in transport activity.
Namibia’s rail stretches a total length of 2687 km across the country. Only about 48% of the rail network meets the minimum SADC stipulated standard of 18.5 tons/axle load. The remaining sections are between 16.5 and 17.5 tons/axle load, according to TransNamib’s statistics.