TTN

Privately-owned Rovos Rail celebrates 30 years

Share  
Deluxe Double Suite aboard one of Rovos’s trains

ON April 29 this year, privately owned Rovos Rail celebrated three decades in South Africa.

Since its first overnight journey with a seven-coach train 30 years ago, Rovos Rail has expanded exponentially and now offers eight trips around Southern Africa with more trains that can accommodate 72 passengers.

Journeys range from 48 hours to 15 days, however, the three-day Pretoria to Cape Town and four-day Pretoria to Victoria Falls journeys - also available in reverse - are the most popular among Middle Eastern clients, Estee Badenhorst, sales and marketing for Rovos tells TTN.

The rail company’s newest route, Trail of Two Oceans, departed for its maiden voyage last month from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Lobito in Angola making history. This was the first time ever that a passenger train travelled the east-to-west copper trail in Africa.

“Our new route coincides nicely with our 30th birthday. I’d like to say it was planned but I can’t take credit for the serendipitous timing,” says Rohan Vos, owner and CEO of Rovos Rail Tours.

 

Trail of Two Oceans departed for its maiden voyage last month from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Lobito in Angola making history

 

 

Also, in the Rovos fleet is the Shongololo Express that was purchased and renovated in 2016. Three journeys are on offer ranging from 12 to 15 days with the train travelling for over 300 days of the year. “That train just goes and goes with very few issues – mostly I think due to the relaxed itineraries. It’s quite amazing,” comments Vos.

Asked if he ever thought Rovos Rail would progress this far, Vos responds: “Not at all. We lost so much money in the early days and we knew nothing about hospitality. In my naivety I believed what we were offering was so unique that tickets would sell easily. Boy, was I mistaken.”

It took a decade for the company to break even. “We managed to side-step bankruptcy more than once,” says Vos. “I was inexperienced and had no idea just how expensive trains would be to operate.”

An auspicious moment arrived in 1993 when Vos formed a relationship with Phillip Morrell from Jules Verne in the United Kingdom. Together they plotted a route from Cape Town to Victoria Falls, and the maiden voyage was sold out.

When Rovos Rail did eventually start making some headway, the company – like many others – was impacted by events such as a volcanic ash cloud, airline strikes, the Ebola outbreak and a crippling global recession.

“It’s certainly been a challenging and interesting ride but one has to play to one’s strengths and luckily I thrive under pressure and I’m a good crisis manager. I also don’t like being told I can’t do something,” he smiles.

The business now employs 440 staff members at Rovos Rail Station, the impressive private railway station and headquarters in Pretoria. In 1999, the derelict 60-acre property was rehabilitated and renovated to become the home of everything from the on-site laundry and kitchen to the locomotive and coach maintenance workshops, reservations and the finance department. “We also have our own little museum that pays homage to our 30 years of operation and also South Africa’s railway history,” says Vos.

A sixth train set is in production with completion aimed for December 2019.

What’s next for Rovos Rail? “Consolidation,” says Vos. “Once we’ve launched our sixth train we need to focus on maintaining all the coaches, training staff and persevering in our pursuit to be independent,” he adds.

The company also has long-standing, amicable and prosperous relationships with many travel agents and tour operators around the world. “Without them we would not be here so I feel this is as much their celebration as it is ours,” says Vos.  

 

Spacer