...as smooth new braking system is inaugurated, writes Terry Hutson
SPOORNET WILL spend R15 billion over the next 15 years upgrading its fleet of ageing locomotives, railway wagons and infrastructure, says Transnet managing director-designate, Mafika Mkwanazi.
With the average age of the parastatal's fleet of rolling stock resting between 20 and 25 years he said the time was overdue for an urgent renewal if Spoornet was to survive in the modern world.
Mkwanazi said that 98% of Spoornet's turnover came from the freight business, and with Spoornet having set its sights on profitability, modern technology would play a critical role in achieving its goal.
The first R1 bn has already been approved and would come from internal sources, with the balance being raised by a combination of project finance and funds sourced overseas.
Mkwanazi was speaking at the inauguration of a new, electronically controlled, wire line braking and distributed power system for the 200 wagon, 16 800 tonne coal trains operating daily along the Richards Bay coal line. A pilot scheme, which is part of an extended evaluation programme lasting between 12 and 18 months, has been installed on one of the 15 trains hauled by four locomotives along this line each day.
The new technology is aimed at providing drivers with improved control over their trains, giving them the ability to begin an instant process of stopping, without the customary delays of up to 40 seconds and side effects of the train bunching or jerking, which sometimes results in derailments. A driver described the system as smooth as stopping a car.
Mkwanazi also confirmed that the Kimberley - de Aar section of the main Johannesburg to Cape Town railway was to be electrified at a cost of R180 million.
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