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News from Railways Africa
MORE CLASS 43 DIESEL-ELECTRICS
Tue, 01/31/2012 - 12:51From an official Transnet release:
Public Enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba has sealed an agreement for Transnet SOC Ltd’s purchase of an additional 43 locomotives from General Electric’s (GE) local arm, General Electric South Africa Technologies (Gesat). The agreement takes the total number of locomotives Transnet has bought from the manufacturer to 143.
Transnet group chief executive Brian Molefe and chief executive-Africa for GE Transportation Jay Ireland signed the agreement at Transnet Rail Engineering’s (TRE) manufacturing facility in Koedoespoort, east of Pretoria.
In terms of the agreement, Gesat will supply Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), with 43 C30ACi (TFR class 43) diesel-electric locomotives. The locomotives are to be deployed throughout the country, especially on TFR’s General Freight Business.
Commenting on the purchase, Molefe said: “The acquisition of these locomotives is part of our fleet renewal – a key element of our R110 billion 5-year capital investment programme. Improving the average age of our assets is crucial in our efforts to improve our reliability, efficiency and our ultimate goal of running a scheduled railway.”
In February 2011, Transnet and GE announced they had reached an agreement for the purchase of 100 locomotives – 90 of which were to be manufactured at TRE’s Koedoespoort facility. Production is ongoing and on schedule. To date 27 locomotives have been delivered and are in operation. The first 10 were manufactured at GE’s plants in the United States.
The C30ACi is the first AC diesel-electric locomotive to be introduced in sub-Saharan Africa. These locomotives, which will be used to haul freight and coal, will decrease life-cycle costs, improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.
“Transnet is exploring various solutions to raise funding for the batch of 43 locomotives. These will include the possible utilisation of credit support from US Exim Bank, an Export Credit Agency (ECA), in line with our strategy of diversifying sources of funding,” Molefe explains.
Categories: Prototype News
TANGA-MUSOMA PROJECT QUERIED
Tue, 01/31/2012 - 12:50According to Sseesamirembe Eco-City: Lake Victoria Free Trade Zone company executive director Beenunula Nunumisa, the proposed Tanga-Musoma railway needs reconsideration. A better route, he says, would be Tanga- Singida-Mutukula-Kampala. This would be a continuous, unbroken railway, whereas the route to Uganda via Musoma would necessitate goods being transhipped to a ferry on Lake Victoria. A branch off a line via Mutukula could be built to Musoma, if feasibility studies support the likely viability of this.
The Tanga-Musoma project (estimated cost $US3.5-4 billion) was initiated by presidents Museveni of Uganda and Kikwete of Tanzania who foresaw a “Trans-African cargo of at least 400 containers” arriving at Musoma every 42 minutes. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the government of Uganda for the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to conduct a feasibility study costing about $450 million.
Categories: Prototype News
HOW THE BLUE TRAIN TOPPED THE POPS
Tue, 01/31/2012 - 12:50During January 2012, South Africa’s prestigious Blue Train was named the World’s top luxury express in 2011 – for the third consecutive year. And it wasn’t the first time a South African operation was recognised by the judges at World Travel Awards (WTA) – not by a long chalk.
Other nominations for 2011 were:
Eastern & Oriental Express (Far East)
Palace on Wheels (India)
Pride of Africa – Rovos Rail
Rocky Mountaineer – GoldLeaf Service (Canada)
Royal Canadian Pacific
The Indian Maharaja Deccan Odyssey
The Queen of Scots Luxury Touring Train (Scotland)
Venice-Simplon Orient Express (Europe)
The winners in previous years were:
2011 The Blue Train
2010 The Blue Train
2009 The Blue Train
2008 Pride of Africa – Rovos Rail
2007 Pride of Africa – Rovos Rail
2006 Royal Canadian Pacific
2005 Pride of Africa – Rovos Rail
2004 Pride of Africa – Rovos Rail
2003 The Blue Train
2002 Venice-Simplon Orient Express
2001 The Blue Train
2000 The Blue Train
1999 The Blue Train
1998 The Blue Train
Categories: Prototype News
NO GAUTRAIN TO PARK STATION YET
Tue, 01/31/2012 - 12:49It may be three more months before the Gautrain line to Park station from Rosebank becomes operational. Underground water seepage problems are the cause of the delay, which has put the scheduled completion date back by a year. Gautrain’s Errol Braithwaite explained to Eyewitness News on 25 January: “We are injecting grout to try and reduce the water Inflow. Then we need to monitor and check that it is working.
If it has worked we can carry on, if not we obviously have to re-inject grout.”
Categories: Prototype News
NAMIBIAN CABINET DISCUSSES RAIL CRISIS
Tue, 01/31/2012 - 12:48During December 20111, the Namibian cabinet held a special meeting to discuss what was described in the press as the railway “crisis”, following four derailments that cost the country “millions”. Ministry of works permanent secretary George Simataa was quoted explaining that the entire Nanibian rail system – last reconstructed in the nineteen-fifties – requires upgrading. A commission was established in 2009 to look into the implications and in particular the projected cost – which was foreseen to be in the region of M$7 billion. “Other matters” came into the picture and the process of finding funding did not proceed.
Every day, an average of eight freight trains use the line between Tsumeb and Walvis Bay. According to technical reports, the rails between Kranzberg and Tsumeb (400km) need to be replaced, at an estimated cost of N$4 million per kilometre. Speed restrictions are in place along this entire length.
Fuel spills at various points are said to have polluted the environment. At least N$1 million is needed to carry out cleaning operations.
Every day, a safety inspection trolley checks the line from Otjiwarongo to Omaruru (137km) before a train traverses the section. Between Erundu and Otjiwarongo (32km), a speed limit of 15km/h applies.
Categories: Prototype News
PROPOSED NEW MOZAMBIQUAN PORT AND RAILWAY
Tue, 01/31/2012 - 12:47The ITD Project, which envisages a new Mozambiquan port north of the Zambezi river mouth, would provide the shortest route to the Moatize coalfields in Tete province. The Ncondezi Coal Company has signed an agreement with Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique (RTCM) and Minas Revuboe on a deal that would provide the company with up to 10 mtpa of rail and port capacity. A deepwater harbour with initial capacity of 25mtpa is foreseen, eventually upgradable to 100mtpa. A feasibility study is to be financed by RTCM, which is also expected to carry capital costs, but Ncondezi would be involved in the building of a rail connection from the new port to the existing Sena line at Mutarara (about 200km). Ncondezi hopes to start coal production by 2015, to be exported at first via the Sena line to Beira and/or the new route to be completed giving access to Nacala via Malawi.
Categories: Prototype News
ETHIOPIAN LIGHT RAIL
Tue, 01/31/2012 - 12:47According to Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) project manager Yehualashet Jemere, most of the preliminary work needed for the new light rail line has been completed and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), has begun construction in the vicinity of Meshualekia and Ayat Village in Addis Ababa.
ERC general manager Getachew Betru expects the first phase to be finished within 30 months. When public service starts, it is hoped to move some 60,000 people per hour on four separate lines including Ayat Village to the Defence Force Hospital (17.26km), Meskel Square to Kality (16.25km) and Lideta to Menilik Square (3.9km). The $US400 million budgeted cost is to be shared between Ethiopia (40%) and China (60%).
Categories: Prototype News
BOTSWANA COAL NEEDS ‘HEAVY GAUGE”
Tue, 01/31/2012 - 12:46Coal mined in Botswana will have to be moved to the coast – for export to India or China – on a new “heavy gauge” railway independent of South Africa, according to Professor Roman Greynberg, senior research fellow at the Botswana Institute of Development Policy Analysis. Writing in the Zimbabwe Independent, he explains:“Cecil Rhodes’ narrow gauge from [the] Cape to Bulawayo is no longer fit for the purpose”. Many in Botswana, he suggests, view South Africa’s proposed railway into Swaziland as “a power play,” undermining local initiatives. In any case, he points out, there is no way the Richard’s Bay Coal Terminal could handle Botswana’s planned 70-90 million tonnes of coal exports annually. Greynberg finds South Africa’s current performance in economic terms unimpressive, reminding readers that the ignoring of warnings given 1n 1998 resulted in the present electricity crisis. The railways, he adds, did nothing about bottlenecks in the past twenty years. The days when everything south of the Congo River depended on the South African Railways are coming to an end, he concludes.
Categories: Prototype News
BLUE TRAIN RAPTURE
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:44The following reached us from an undisclosed source in Australia. Endeavours to track down the original of the wording “The Blue Train has an aura of mystique about it … this moving five-star hotel on wheels has hosted countless presidents, celebrities, and royalty” were fruitless. It appears on countless websites, even one to do with South African wildlife. However, its presence on the official www.bluetrain.co.za suggests this is where the flowery descriptions originated.
“The most lavish train on the planet is now more accessible, thanks to spectacular newly-launched promotions for jetsetters wishing to travel to South Africa. This moving five-star hotel on wheels has hosted countless presidents, celebrities, and royalty and is a true once-in-a-lifetime experience for even the most discerning travellers.
“Guests can take advantage of 50 percent off the second person rate in a double suite for travel through March 31, 2012. If travel plans call for a timeframe later in the year, guests can opt for two free hotel nights to use both pre- and post-Blue Train journey. The hotel choices include the stylish boutique 131 Herbert Baker in Pretoria, the classic Sheraton Pretoria, and the stunning West in Cape Town. Blue Train journeys are 27 hours in length, offering one night of blissful luxury as guests traverse the landscape, indulging in private butler service, gourmet cuisine, and award-winning wines and spirits, which are all included in the rate.”
“This is the first significant promotional offer the Blue Train has launched in recent years, making it easier than ever for travellers to make their luxury rail travel dreams come true. For more information, please contact the North American Sales Office at info@trumarketing.com on how to reserve this offer, as well as assistance with South Africa packages including hotel, air, and enriching tours.
“The Blue Train has an aura of mystique about it, and its very name has become synonymous with the ultimate in luxury and personal service. The routes of the Blue Train, both scheduled and chartered, take guests through some of the most breathtaking countryside to be found anywhere in the world. The finest bed linen, marble tiles, and gold fittings in the bathrooms and sheer opulence all ensure that guests will never forget the time they spend on the Blue Train.”
Categories: Prototype News
SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH-SPEED AMBITIONS
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:43It seems South Africa is serious about ambitions in the high-speed arena, though whether it understands “high speed” to mean Gautrain’s modest 160km/h or the genuine article (nearer 300km/h) as exemplified in countries like China, Japan, France and Spain is not exactly clear. Project no 1 concerns the Moloto Road north of Pretoria, on which serious traffic accidents involving public transport occur with monotonous frequency. This outer suburban commuter route is obviously unsuited to genuine high-speed (TGV-type) trains. Other routes being considered include Johannesburg-Durban, whose fearsome topography raises all manner of questions, mainly related to the astronomic cost of unavoidably lengthy tunnels. Johannesburg-Cape Town conjures visions of Chinese super-trains streaking across the Karoo – though whether an all-in time of, say, five hours (at 300km/h plus) will attract people away from aeroplanes taking two hours is a moot point. At least they won’t be stopping in De Aar to change engines. As for the projected route 4 – Johannesburg to Polokwane – let us just say “no comment”.
A special steering committee is currently deliberating these weighty matters.
Categories: Prototype News
TRANSNET FREIGHT RAIL CLASS 38 ELECTRO-DIESEL
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:43From RSSA Gauteng’s On Track:
Between 1992 and 1994 Spoornet placed fifty class 38-000 locomotives in service. They are still the only dual-powered electro-diesel locomotives in use by Transnet Freight Rail, capable of running either on 3kV electricity off the catenary or on diesel alone.
The class 38 was designed to replace steam on pickup work on the Reef. The diesel part was to allow them to pick up and shunt wagons from non-electrified industrial sidings. Most of the locomotives are allocated to Gauteng depots at Germiston, Pyramid South and Krugersdorp, with a lone example based at Bloemfontein in the Free State
In 1998, forty of these locomotives (38-011 to 38-050) and a number of electric locomotives were sold to Maquarie-GETX (General Electric Finance) and leased back to Spoornet for a ten-year period that expired in 2008.]
According to etched wineglasses produced at the time when a special train ran from Johannesburg to Magaliesburg to commemorate the delivery of the final class 38, the delivery dates were: 38-001 18 April 1993 and 38-050, 30 July 1994.
Categories: Prototype News
CLASS 38 ELECTRO-DIESEL IN OPERATION
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:43From RSSA Gauteng’s On Track:
The first passenger haulage by the class 38 is believed to have been en route to Cape Town for three based there. After that they were used fairly frequently on trains to Magaliesburg and elsewhere. This was due to the vagaries of Spoornet’s accounting system. Electric was cheapest, then diesel and steam was the most expensive. So the electric rate was paid from Johannesburg to Waterval and the diesel rate from thereon until the accounting people woke up and closed the loophole.
One public holiday, two class 38s with twelve coaches were booked to Magaliesburg. All went well on the outward journey but one failed before leaving Magaliesburg and the single loco hauled the whole consist back to Johannesburg. It has to be said that you could walk alongside the train on the steepest sections but it kept going. The reason, it is believed, is that the 38s had AC traction motors and thyristor controls. This allowed a lower factor of adhesion or a higher tractive effort for a given weight of locomotive than with DC traction motors.
Since basic physics says Power = Force x Speed if the Power is constant, the loco is able to supply a very high tractive effort at very low speed. In the USA this is seen in the Powder River Basin where the AC traction-motored diesel locos crawl out of the basin with enormous trains. They are the same power as the DC diesel locos but their lower allowable factor of adhesion due to AC traction allows them to pull substantially more but at a lower speed.
Trains Galore ran a unique haulage combination of class 25NC and class 38 on a three-coach corporate special to a dam near Pretoria. Both locos were under power and acceleration was startling. The steam loco was taken off at Hercules and the class 38 continued to the destination and back to Johannesburg. “From memory the computer tripped out the system at 105km/h, which we attained on this trip and others. Most spectacular was doing 100km/h through Witpoortjie station and seeing the clouds of dust and rubbish kicked up in its wake.”
The 38s were not used only for shunting. They often ran with full loads on the main lines between Broodsnyersplaas and Welgedacht. A number of years ago, 38s were used to pull the “Witblitz” container express all the way from Johannesburg to Cape Town and back. This saved time by avoiding the need to change engines at Beaufort-West (AC to DC traction) and Kimberley (DC to AC traction). Some of the 120km/h speed limit boards were still in existence between Potchefstroom and Worcester up to 2005.
On Track credits Geoff Pethick, Willem de Beer, and Andre Kritzinger for the above
Categories: Prototype News
VALE SIGNS FOR LINE THROUGH MALAWI
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:42On 11 January, the government of Malawi signed a $US1 billion deal with Brazil’s Vale mining group covering the rehabilitation of lines in Malawi and the construction of a 100km new link from Blantyre to a point near Moatize in Mozambique. The work envisaged will target the moving of 18 million tons of coal annually to the deepwater port of Nacala in northern Mozambique. Reuters quoted minister of transport Sidick Mia explaining: “Vale will invest about $1 billion in Malawi over a period of three years for construction and rehabilitation of the railway line and it is expected to employ 4,500 workers of which 70% will be Malawians.”
Categories: Prototype News
LESOTHO RAIL INITIATIVE
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:41Members of the Southern African Railway Association (Sara) represent each of the region’s railways. The government of Lesotho, which has no railway, is to send observers to all future meetings of the association, which has agreed to support the small landlocked country in its endeavour to build a rail system for itself. An existing Transnet branch does enter Lesotho but continues for only 2km to Maseru, and no other points are served. Sara executive Gideon Mahlalela, who is CEO of Swaziland Railway, told FTW that his country would give Lesotho the benefit of its rail experience.
Categories: Prototype News
EGYPT-SAUDI LANDBRIDGE SCHEME
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:39The study on a proposed landbridge project that would link Egypt with Saudi Arabia via a Red Sea bridge, has yet to begin, the Arabic Al Hayat daily reports. Chairman of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council Abdullah Dahlan says Egypt is still undecided on the matter. He is quoted explaining: “The project has been delayed due to lack of political agreement between the two governments and not because of economic problems, the project’s cost, or the way it should be funded or operated”.
Categories: Prototype News
UMGENI STEAM RAILWAY
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:39www.umgenisteamrailway.co.za
Steam excursion running days:
Sunday, 29 Jan 2012: Kloof – Inchanga 08:30 & 12:30
Sunday, 26 Feb 2012: Kloof – Inchanga 08:30 & 12:30
Categories: Prototype News
NEW LOCOS FOR TRANSNET
Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:47Since December 2009, Transnet has ordered 143 new diesel-electric locomotives from General Electric SA Technologies (GESAT). This number includes the latest order for 43 of the C30ACi model – the first AC diesel-electric locomotive to be introduced in sub-Saharan Africa. The locos, to be used to haul general freight including coal, are claimed to decrease life-cycle costs, improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. GE’s empowerment partner in the GESAT joint venture is the South African Mineworkers Investment company.
Categories: Prototype News
R1M BLUE TRAIN SPONSORSHIP FOR ANC
Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:41Someone (management declined to name exactly who) paid out around R1 million in sponsoring a Blue Train jaunt for VIPs to Bloemfontein on 6 January. According to press reports there were 58 “guests” on board, all headed for the ANC celebrations. Among those identified were Johanna Nkomo, widow of Zimbabwe’s Joshua Nkomo, and former Mozambiquan first lady Maria Neto. One report listed former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda as a passenger but it seems he missed his flight to Johannesburg – as well as the train. The sumptuous express, which was accompanied on its journey by a helicopter, spent the weekend in Bloemfontein station, where 5-star hotel accommodation and meals were provided.
Categories: Prototype News
DRC TRAIN PROBLEMS
Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:40According to a recent BBC programme, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – twelfth largest country in the world – covers 2,344,858 km2. Fourth most populated state in Africa, “It has more than 70% of the world’s coltan, used to make vital components of mobile phones, 30% of the planet’s diamond reserves and vast deposits of cobalt, copper and bauxite.” The capital Kinshasa is home to more than 8 million.
Rail routes total 3,641km officially but almost nothing is running. When it does, journeys that should take hours run into days and derailments are endemic. Current hopes centre on World Bank assistance to restore the badly run-down infrastructure.
Categories: Prototype News
NACALA PORT AND RAILWAY
Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:40Brazil’s Vale mining company intends to double production of its Moatize coal mine to 22 million tons a year at a cost of $US6 billion. Limited exports began in June 2011, using the Sena line to the coal terminal at the port of Beira, but even when upgrading is finally complete, capacity on this route is unlikely to exceed about 6mta.
To increase output, a new rail link of about 100km is to be built east of Moatize into Malawi, to join the existing railway that runs from there to the northern Mozambique deep-water port of Nacala. Vale sales and marketing manager Marcelo Mattos is quoted saying that this corridor would be able to move 18mta.
Categories: Prototype News