New locomotive strategy will sharpen efficiencies

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) is improving its market share at the rate of around 20% per annum, according to its CEO Siyabonga Gama. He said this was despite GDP growth of only 3%. “We are grabbing back market share slowly but surely,” he said, disputing claims that the volume increases the rail operator has been reporting are mainly due to increased capacity on its bulk heavy haul lines. “Yes, we have increased our bulk volumes, but the general cargo is seeing higher volumes as well. We estimate improvement of our market share is in the region of 20% per year.” He said the investment of some R25 billion over the past three years as part of Transnet’s market demand strategy (MDS) had allowed TFR to introduce new equipment and upgrade infrastructure significantly – and that has led to improved efficiencies. “There are many factors that have played a role in the efficiency of our operations to date. If one takes into consideration for example that we currently have 29 different types of locomotives being used then it is easy to understand how the lack of investment over the years and the implementation of different strategies have hampered the railways.” He said by directing investment to one strategy that would ultimately see cargo moved from road to rail, efficiency would naturally improve. “Through this programme we will see only four types of locomotives being used across our operations. Not only are we going to save money in the long run by lowering the inventory and operating more energyefficient equipment, we are also going to be able to improve the skills of our train drivers as they will no longer have to be trained on 29 different types of locos but only four.” Gama said by changing only one element major improvements would be gained. Because the rail operator had so many types of locomotives it had to ensure skills were in place for maintenance and operations for all of these different types – a costly exercise by anyone’s book. It has also impacted operations significantly as the various systems did not speak to each other. Because, for example, there is such a wide variety of locomotives being used, changing a locomotive can sometimes take eight hours. “Now with only dual voltage locomotives being used this will be something of the past as we only have to change drivers at certain times – and that only takes 20 minutes.” He said they had set themselves the target of being one of the top five railways in the world by 2020. “Ultimately it can be achieved if we leverage our capital spending to deliver the very high yields going forward. We have several strategies in place that will allow that.” Gama explained that the purchase of 1400 new locomotives over the next four years would transform operations. “Combined with the introduction of new wagons with greater carrying capacity, network improvements that allow for increased axle loading, as well as the reinstatement of branch lines, we will have a far more efficient railway system that will be able to move cargo reliably,” he said. “The introduction of better technological systems and the ongoing training of staff and up skilling of our workforce is creating a high performance organisation.” Gama said this was in line with the National Growth Path of the country, which would see more cargo on rail than on road in the future. CAPTION Only four types of locomotive will be used across all operations.