Rail News

one year ago

Riding high: Prasa’s ‘useless’ engines find new purpose up north

Sunday Times Daily 
15 August 2021 (Tanzania)

FULL STEAM AHEAD Two of Traxtion's Afro 4000 locomotives on a freight train in Tanzania. The locomotives, which had been found to be 'too tall' top operate on much of SA's rail network, have found new purpose on the 1,400km Tazara railway that links Zambia and Tanzania.

SA’s trash turns into treasure for a private locomotive operator in Tanzania

 There is a happy ending for some of the leading characters in the famous “too tall” locomotive saga that cost the Passenger Rail Agency billions of rand and hastened the demise of SA’s long-distance passenger trains.

Six of the Spanish-built AFRO 4000 locomotives that were found to be too high for parts of SA’s rail network are now working flat-out on freight trains for a private operator on the 1,400km Tazara Railway that runs between Tanzania and Zambia.

James Holley, CEO of private locomotive operator Traxtion, which bought the seven engines at auction in 2019, said the locomotives were already proving to be a success.

“Apart from some electrical issues, none of which caused train failure, they have been performing very well,” he said.

Traxtion, a well-established rail business that supplies locomotives, crews and rail services to South African industry and state-owned railway companies in Africa, has a concession to generate freight traffic for another third-party private operator on the Tazara.

Funded and built by China in the late 1970s, the Tazara — also known as the “Uhuru” or Freedom Railway — has long struggled to be viable.

Now, with private operators attracting new freight, the line is finally earning money from the access fees paid by private operators, Holley said.

The route involves a dramatic crossing of the Rift Valley where the single-track line winds over mountains, through numerous tunnels and across dozens of high bridges.

The arrival of the powerful ex-Prasa engines in Tanzania had allowed the company to reduce the number of locomotives and crews it needed to haul freight trains across the steep passes of the Rift Valley. 

Previously, the company had been operating 36-wagon trains — pulled by two less powerful locomotives — which had to be reduced to a 24-wagon train for the steep grades of the escarpment while a third locomotive followed with the remaining 12 wagons.

“With the Afros, we’ve been running trains of two locomotives and 32 wagons all the way through,” said Holley.

“So we’re getting another eight wagons straight over the escarpment, which is great.”

Train times had also become faster as there were no longer any of the delays caused by stopping and cutting the train.

“Instead of having eight locomotives deployed, we’ve got six,” Holley said.

The sheer power of the AFRO 4000s meant the company was planning to increase the train consists to 48 wagons carrying a total of 96 containers. 

“To have 96 containers on a train on the Tazara is very cool,” he said.

The six locomotives were the first of 13 such engines delivered to Prasa from Spanish locomotive builder Vossloh in 2015.

Prasa, which had been hived off from freight train operator Transnet in 2008, was desperately short of reliable locomotives to haul its long-distance passenger trains which were hobbled by breakdowns and train delays that sometimes lasted for days.

Under the terms of the R2.5bn deal — in which little-known SA company Swifambo Rail placed the order with the Spanish firm on behalf of Prasa — Vossloh would supply 20 AFRO 4000 diesel-electric and 50 AFRO-Dual electro-diesel locomotives.

The AFRO 4000 locomotives are diesel-only while the AFRO Dual engines can be powered either by their own diesel engines or draw current from the overhead wires in electrified sections of SA’s rail network.

Shortly after the first AFRO 4000 locomotives landed in Cape Town in early 2015, however, there were rumblings of a problem

It turned out the 4.14m-high locomotives exceeded the minimum 3.965m height restriction on SA’s rail network.

While the locomotives could run without restriction on parts of the network where there were no overhead wires, and could even run on the 25,000 volt network where clearances are higher, there were fears that they would foul the wires on the 3,000 volt network.

Test trains operated on the Western Cape’s 3kV network without any problems but tests on the section running east from Johannesburg on the so-called “Benrose Corridor” showed that the locomotive body would possibly touch the overhead wires, causing “flashovers” which could destroy electronics and potentially harm the crew.

Just 13 AFRO 4000s had been delivered when they were sidelined pending modifications.

Meanwhile, the Prasa board went to court to challenge the deal on the grounds that the procurement process was corrupt.

Source
https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/news/2021-08-15-riding-high-prasas-useless-engines-find-new-purpose-up-north/

Recommended for you