SPOORNET AND Transwerk, two business divisions of Transnet, have jointly clinched a R60-million design and manufacture contract for new railway wagons for a Swedish mining company.
Competing against heavy international competition, the two divisions managed to design and manufacture new wagons for loading iron ore and, after sending over five prototypes to Sweden, were recently granted the contract for the provision of 68 new wagons, with the possibility of an order for a further 700 - worth R700 million.
Transwerk is the main contractor with Spoornet having provided the bulk of the design input, particularly in the bogie, brake, wheel/rail, vehicle/track and drawgear technologies, with significant input into body design and door mechanism design.
Wagons can offload 100t
of iron ore in seconds
The first five prototypes, which were manufactured within one month, were sent over at the beginning of this year and have been tested by the Swedes in their severe climatic conditions in northern Sweden, north of the Arctic Circle where winter temperatures plunge to around -45 degrees C.
Spoornet chief designer, Harry Tournay said South Africa had been approached to design and manufacture the wagons because the country was internationally-known for its expertise in heavy and long haul rail.
I believe Transnet's winning the contact had a lot to do with the confidence which the Swedes had in Spoornet's ability to operate a heavy-haul railway system. Our particular strength lies in the vehicle, track and wheel and rail technologies in which we rate as world class. The Swedes are under pressure to produce iron ore for the whole European market and they had to find a way of making their rail system more efficient with heavier axle loads, longer trains and new locomotives - an area in which we specialise, he said.
The new wagons are able to offload 100 tons of iron ore in a few seconds.
Tournay said the wagons had to comply with a series of special requirements, especially taking into consideration the climatic conditions.
The wagons have been designed in a totally different manner to the ones we use in South Africa. We virtually had to start from scratch. Local steel has been used and the total local content is around 80%. South Africa can certainly now be considered a global competitor as these wagons are performing well and this will be evident to all international wagon builders. We had to work around a cost disadvantage, particularly because we are so far from Sweden, he said.
Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd
No article may be reproduced without the written permission of the editor
To respond to this article send your email to joyo@nowmedia.co.za
