BR wagons go 70 years without maintenance

An audit into the Botswana Railways' trains and carriages by the Auditor General shows that the worst scenario is that of BRC wagons which have gone for over 70 years without being overhauled. These wagons were bought in 1937 and there is no documentary evidence to indicate that they were ever overhauled.

The audit observed that periodic maintenance of wagons was to be done every 10 years and the time allocated for completion of the service was three months. Despite the arrangement, maintenance was not done within the stipulated time frames and the BR was not prudent in observing standard required service cycle of these wagons.