Swakopmund Railway Station

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File:Alter Bahnhof Swakopmund Hotel.jpg
Former station building of Swakopmund, now serving as a hotel.

Swakopmund Railway Station (German: Bahnhof Swakopmund) is a railway station serving the town of Swakopmund in Namibia. It is part of the TransNamib railway network. Its IATA code is ZSZ.[1]

Overview

Swakopmund was the starting point of the first state railway line in German South West Africa. The railway station was built in 1901, as a terminal on the Imperial Germany's colonial Kaiserliche Eisenbahn line connecting Swakopmund with Windhoek.[2] The station was designed by Willi Sander, who also later designed Swakopmund Lighthouse.[3] In 1914 the extension to Walvis Bay was completed, with a railtrack very close to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1980 this extension was replaced by an alternative route behind the dunes that allowed for higher axle load.[4]

The station building, declared a national monument in 1972,[5] today serves as a hotel and casino;[6][7] trains stop outside town. There is another former station building in Swakopmund, the O.M.E.G. Bahnhof of the private mining company Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn Gesellschaft, today housing a museum.

See also

References

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