Seventeen coaches of the Rovos Rail train, which was near the end of a journey from Cape Town, derailed just outside a station in the city, Johan Pieterse of Pretoria's community safety department said. Pieterse said along with the two who died at the scene, 25 others were taken to hospitals.
David Patrick of Rovos Rail said the train was carrying 55 passengers and an unknown number of crew. Patrick said the passengers were from a number of countries, but said he could not name the countries until he had a confirmed list.
The dead were not immediately identified.
The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear.
Rovos Rail, according to its website, offers holiday trips across Africa that recall the golden age of travel, on trains that combine Edwardian period features such as wood paneling with modern conveniences such as air conditioning and hot showers. The Rovos Rail website says the trains can carry as many as 72 passengers in 36 cabins. The routes were established in 1989 and run with restored locomotives.
The oldest engine in the fleet is a 76-ton “Class 6” locomotive originally built in 1893; the youngest is a 225-ton steam engine built in 1954.
The train travels around South Africa and to Namibia and Tanzania.
The Cape Town-Pretoria route can cost from about $1,500 to nearly $3,000 per passenger for the two-day trip.
The train also traverses the famed “Cape to Cairo” route, a monthlong journey between Cape Town near the southern tip of South Africa and Egypt's bustling capital.
That journey can cost up to $56,000 per passenger.
