Railways in

Kiribati

The Ocean Island Railway in the 1920s on the occasion of the arrival of the first new locomotive from Orenstein & Koppel

A 3km, 610mm gauge,steam hauled railway was opened in 1906 on Ocean Island (present day Banaba) in connection with the mining of phosphates, in the form of guano. The railway carried guano from the extraction sites to the harbour. Operations were considerably expanded in the 1920s and a new fleet of locomotives ordered from German manufacturers Orenstein & Koppel. In 1937 another set of new locomotives was delivered and the line was regauged to 914mm. Some time after World War II the line was regauged again, this time to standard (1435mm) gauge, and diesel traction was introduced. Eventually the line fell into disuse and was its trackbed was converted into a road.

The presently uninhabited island of Malden in the Line Islands was also exploited for its guano deposits, between the 1870s and the 1920s. Guano was carried from the extraction site to the port by a small railway. Wagons were propelled by hand or with sails.

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