Trains across Southern Africa
NaN routes and 8 operators across 4 countries Fares and travel times below come from the same engine that answers the search box.
2,180 Trains routes run across Southern Africa, reaching 98 places in 4 countries through 8 operators On the 16 busiest of them, priced on October 9, 2026, the cheapest fare is €11.88 and the fastest trip is 1h 9m door to door. A median route runs 235 km.
Trains in Southern Africa, in numbers
What we actually sell, counted rather than claimed.
- 2,180Routes we sell
- 545Corridors
- 98Places served
- 4Countries
- 8Operators
- 2,176Domestic routes
- 4Cross border routes
- 0Routes out of the region
- 235 kmMedian route
- 1,032 kmLongest route
How the modes compare across Southern Africa
Every mode measured on the same 16 corridors in Southern Africa, priced on October 9, 2026 for one passenger.
The corridors that matter in Southern Africa
Ranked by how much service runs, then priced. The country and city pages carry the rest.
| Route | From | Fastest | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pretoria to Johannesburg train | €11.88 | 1h 16m | 53 km |
| Vanderbijlpark to Soweto train | €11.88 | 1h 14m | 49 km |
| Carletonville to Roodepoort train | €11.88 | 1h 15m | 52 km |
| Diepsloot to Benoni train | €11.88 | 1h 9m | 42 km |
| Wellington to Cape Town train | €11.88 | 1h 20m | 63 km |
| Thembisa to Soshanguve train | €12.44 | 1h 18m | 60 km |
| Atlantis to Worcester train | €15.19 | 1h 32m | 90 km |
| eMbalenhle to Johannesburg train | €21.24 | 1h 48m | 108 km |
| Germiston to Emalahleni train | €22.34 | 1h 48m | 113 km |
| Middelburg to Thembisa train | €24.54 | 1h 54m | 126 km |
| Ivory Park to Middelburg train | €25.09 | 1h 52m | 129 km |
| Durban to Johannesburg train | €61.39 | 4h 11m | 501 km |
| Pietermaritzburg to Johannesburg train | €61.39 | 3h 53m | 444 km |
| Benoni to Durban train | €74.04 | 4h 36m | 487 km |
| Boksburg to Durban train | €75.14 | 5h 5m | 488 km |
| Welkom to Port Elizabeth train | €100.44 | 6h 2m | 674 km |
Countries in Southern Africa
Every country in Southern Africa we sell in, most routes first.
| Country | Routes | Places | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 1,868 | 70 | 5 |
| Zimbabwe | 216 | 18 | 1 |
| Botswana | 92 | 9 | 2 |
| Namibia | 8 | 3 | 1 |
When to book in Southern Africa
The same search run at seven lead times across 3 corridors in Southern Africa.
- €14.643 days
- €15.197 days
- €11.8821 days
- €11.8845 days
- €11.8884 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Across the routes we sampled the typical fare is lowest around 21 days ahead, at €11.88.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 22 percent. At the most expensive point the typical fare is €15.19, 7 days out.
How far people travel to get here
Every origin we sell by Trains, grouped by how far it is in a straight line.
| Distance | Routes | Share | Nearest of them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 200 km | 964 | 44% | Alberton, 40 km |
| 200 to 600 km | 848 | 39% | Welkom, 205 km |
| 600 to 1,500 km | 368 | 17% | Kariega, 604 km |
Rail operators
The carriers with the largest networks inside Southern Africa.
Train destinations
Other ways to travel across Southern Africa
Common questions about Trains across Southern Africa
How many Trains routes does Orlero sell across Southern Africa?
2,180 of them, across 4 countries reaching 98 places through 8 operators
How much does travelling by Trains cost in Southern Africa?
On the 16 busiest Trains corridors in Southern Africa, priced on October 9, 2026, the lowest fare is €11.88 and the median is €21.79.
Is Trains the fastest way across Southern Africa?
On the corridors we priced, train takes a median of 1h 48m door to door, against 2h 43m by Coach. Both figures include reaching the terminal and leaving it at the other end.
Which countries in Southern Africa have Trains routes we sell?
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia.
Who runs the Trains services in Southern Africa?
Shosholoza Meyl, Metrorail, National Railways of Zimbabwe, Botswana Railway, Bombela Consession, Kei Rail, among 8 carriers we sell across Southern Africa.
When should I book travel across Southern Africa?
Fares on the corridors we sampled bottom out about 21 days before departure. Booking then rather than 7 days ahead was 22 percent cheaper on this sample.
How far apart are the places we sell in Southern Africa?
The median route runs 235 km in a straight line and the shortest is 40 km. The longest we sell is 1,032 km, from Cape Town to Welkom.
Where these numbers come from
Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.
Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares
- Regions
- A region is a set of countries, and a route counts for it when either end is inside it. Countries are grouped from their ISO code alone, so the map grows with the data and nothing here is drawn by hand.
- The sample
- Fares, travel times and carbon are measured on the 16 highest ranked corridors in this region, spread across it rather than taken from the top, so the figures describe the region and not its busiest country.