railways africa issue 4 2014

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We hear repeatedly that 60% of South African commuters travel by minibus-taxi. Politicians began quoting this figure following the first National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), carried out eleven years ago. They made the seemingly logical deduction that the national average was probably close to this figure in individual cities. It wasn’t then, and it isn’t now.

At the time, for instance, only 29% of Cape Town’s commuters relied on minibus-taxis. The percentage using trains, too, was – and is – much higher in the mother city. This means that Metrorail shortcomings are more keenly felt in Cape Town than in the other centres. The Congress of S A Trade Unions (Cosatu) threatened a strike when fares were increased in July, protesting that the service was deteriorating. Management routinely blames its troubles on obsolete rolling stock, promising that new coaches are on the way. Indeed, Prasa has nearly 600 six-coach sets on order – but unfortunately they’re not going to be arriving any time soon. The first 20 coaches, being put together in Brazil, aren’t likely to be in South Africa before Christmas 2015.

None will be in use before 2016 – and 20 is a drop in the ocean for South Africa as a whole. The first South African-built coaches aren’t expected before 2017, and the delivery of about 60 six-coach sets a year is what the country – as a whole – can probably expect.

Relentless, indescribable vandalism in Cape Town, meanwhile – R8 millions’ worth (largely arson) in a single August day - has the Passenger Rail Agency (Prasa) pointing out that they cannot introduce expensive new rolling stock under such conditions. Worse – they warn they may be forced to close the indispensible, ultra-busy Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain lines unless the senseless destruction stops. We don’t envy those grappling with these very difficult realities, least of all the thousands of commuters who desperately need to get to work.

The busy 4-track line at Nyanga in Cape Town, paralysed for four days by vandalised signalling.

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RAILWAYS AFRICA / COMMENT

Comment

The copyright on all material in this magazine is expressly reserved and vested in Rail Link Communications cc, unless otherwise stated. No material may be reproduced in any form, in part or in whole, without the permission of the publishers. Please note that the opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishers of Rail Link Communications cc unless otherwise stated. While precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information, neither the Editor, Publisher nor Contributor can be held liable for any inaccuracies or damages that may arise.

3Issue 4 // 2014 Railways Africa www.railwaysafrica.com

BARBARA SHEATPublisher / Railways Africa

PUBLISHERBarbara Sheat

EDITOR Rollo Dickson

DESIGN & LAYOUTSedibelo Phetoe

WEBSITEDean McTavish

ADVERTISINGAndrew Lanham

SUBSCRIPTIONS Ophelia Naidoo

CONTRIBUTORSJohn BatwellNathan BerelowitzAndrew LanhamChas RickwoodAnton van SchalkwykJacque Wepener

ISSN 1029 - 2756

Rail Link Communications ccPO Box 4794 Randburg 2125Tel: +27 72 340 5621E-mail: [email protected]: @railwaysafricaWebsite: www.railwaysafrica.com

We apologise for the poor quality of some photos in this issue.Contributors are asked to submit high-resolution images as far as possible.

Contents

LEVEL CROSSING SAfETY

Features

And in fifth place is... 30

End of the Line

15

10

17

4

COVER STORYNew railway line for ZambiaZambian company Northwest Rail has started preparations for a line to link Zambia to Angola.

6

27

China offers high-speed rail to Zimbabwe. 10

Benguela railway rehabilitation complete. 10

Service on Angola’s Mocamedes line restarts. 10

Africa Update

Croatian company Altpro has developed new solutions to the age-old problem of level-crossing safety. 15

Revolution in train control 22

Camels and Cadillacs — Book Review 24

Unprecedented vandalism in Cape Town. 25

Teenagers killed in bizarre accident. 27

Mishaps

SA Rail NewsTFR could be the world’s No 5 railway. 18

Safe, affordable rail in SA remains a challenge. 18

Railways Africa Issue 4 // 2014

It is not every day that sees the building of a major new railway in sub-Saharan Africa. Northwest Rail’s (NWR) new 590km line in Zambia promises to be a game changer.

This project has been driven by the persistent determination of one man, Enoch Kavindele. An ex-vice president of Zambia and the MP for Chingola, he grew up on the Copperbelt and knows about trucks, disintegrating roads and the fatalities this type of heavy traffic causes.

It is predicted that the output of the Copperbelt will rise to nearly 2½ million tons in five years’ time, placing unsustainable pressure on roads. On one mine›s main-haul road, 12 children were killed in 2013.

At last a successful feasibility study has been concluded – but for ten years Kavindele had been told his scheme wouldn›t work. Many rail experts looked at it and walked away.

PHASE 1 AND 2The project is to be carried out in two phases. In the 295km Phase 1, a line will be built from Chingola, the existing Zambia Railways Ltd (ZRL) railhead, to Solwezi. This will serve the Kansanshi copper mine, currently one of the largest and most profitable in Africa.

The line will continue further west to the site of Barrick’s mega Lumwana mine. The next extension would be to the newest mine on the Copperbelt, First Quantum’s Trident operation at Kalumbila. Opening in November 2014, this will be an exceptionally large copper producer.

In Phase 2, the line will continue a further 300km from Kalumbila to the border of Angola, near a place called Jimbe. Here the line will connect with a branch to be built from Luacano on Caminhos de ferro de Benguela (CFB), the Angolan railway running some 1,200km westwards to the Atlantic.

Following a high-level conference in Luanda on 26 May 2014 organised by the Angola National Private Investment Agency, there was common agreement between the Angolan and Zambian governments that a direct rail link between the two countries is required. Specifically it was confirmed that the current Angolan fiscal budget includes an allocation for the cost of building a 395km rail link from Luacano on the CFB to link with NWR at the Zambian border.

The proposed Zambia-Angola rail link was also discussed at a mission to Lusaka during June 2014 by representatives from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Africa Development Bank. Following this meeting, the SADC issued an aide memoire document supporting the concept.

“The case for Phase 1 to Kalumbila is fairly easy to justify because there are two types of traffic,” Enoch Kavindele explains. The first is railing concentrate 110km from the new mine at Kalumbila back to Kansanshi where First Quantum is building a large sulphide smelter, due to open in January 2015.

The second freight is finished copper anode from the smelter back to Chingola and then south down the north/south corridor to South Africa.

THE PROJECT NOWTowards the end of 2013, NWR began the feasibility study. That is complete and the project is moving towards completing a full bankability study.

Under the development agreement, Northwest Rail will design and build the railway, finance it, and nominate the chosen operator, which will run freight services for the three copper mines. ZRL will have the option to run passenger trains to Kalumbila and eventually to Angola. NWR has been liaising with ZRL, with whom it has a good working relationship.

Once the bankable feasibility is finished, the stakeholders need to raise about $US489 million to finance the construction of Phase 1. This excludes the rolling stock, which would be financed separately by the operator. The feasibility indicates that the new project will have a payback period of about 15 years, which is standard for infrastructure of this sort.

OIL fROM ANGOLAAs far as Phase 2 is concerned (with an estimated cost of $US500 million), a pre-feasibility study still needs to be done. This section will serve as a conduit for oil from Angola to Zambia - dependent at present on an ageing pipeline from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The mining expansion taking place in the Copperbelt, both in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is “colossal”, so fuel is going to become a real issue. The mines in this region are typically using tens of millions of litres a month.

Once the bankable feasibility study for Phase 1 is complete, the pre-feasibility study for Phase 2 will start. NWR will have to coordinate with the Angolan authorities over construction of the link from Luacano to Jimbe, which is likely to be constructed by their Chinese contractors. The entire CFB railway has been rebuilt and the deep-water port of Lobito extensively upgraded. In contrast to the Phase 1 route which is mainly flat, the topography of the Phase 2 section – where tunnels might be needed - is more challenging.

In terms of traffic density, traffic on Phase 1 will probably consist of four trains a day – two going east and two going west. Kalumbila is predicted to produce 1.2 million tons of copper concentrate a year for 25 years, which means that about 100,000 tons will need to be railed monthly. The smelter at Kansanshi is expected to produce 500,000 tons of copper anode and cathode per annum.

6 Railways Africa Issue 4 // 2014 www.railwaysafrica.com

zAMbIAN RAIL

ZAMBIA’S RAIL RESURGENT

Enoch Kavindele

AfRICA’S fIRST “GREEN” RAILWAYMuch emphasis in this project is being put on the environmental and social impact. As Africa’s first “green” railway, it should be able to generate carbon credits.

NWR plans to set up village associations on each 30km section of line. These will employ about 100 people each who will maintain the 15km of track on either side of their village. They will also be responsible for educating people about safety around the railway track.

Every day, people will walk the line to check for missing clips, broken plates or cracked rails and there will be a team responsible for undergrowth control.

The plan is to create a farm in the 45-metre-wide rail reserve on either side of the line where Jatropha Curcas will be grown. This will be used in the making of biodiesel - enough to service much of the railway’s needs. These initiatives will create both employment and responsibility.There is to be a fibre optic cable running the entire length of the line. Each association will become an internet point for banking, education and medical services. “The local people are incentivised and understand that the railway is part of the community and must be preserved and protected,” Kavindele explains.

To promote gender equality, NWR intends to instal a driver simulator at its base, and women will be encouraged to become train drivers.

INNOVATIVE ROLLING STOCKNWR will probably be involved in running trains over some 1,800km of the 2,600km corridor from Solwezi to a port such as Richards Bay.


zAMbIAN RAIL

Westwards from Chingola, the route planned for the new railway generally follows that of a long-established road as far as Mwinilunga, near the Angolan border.

It has had major discussions with Transnet Freight Rail about the Hoedspruit/Komatipoort Eastern Corridor through Swaziland to Richards Bay. A test train was run on this route in April. The idea is that block trains would run from Solwezi to Richards Bay on an eight-day turnaround time.

In terms of rolling stock, NWR envisages using fuel-efficient, lightweight flat wagons on this route.

Versatility is the key here, as they will be able to transport a number of different types of container. In Zambia, they will carry two 26-ton payload, half-height, closed-top containers loaded with concentrate from the smelter. On the return route, the containers can be used to convey freight such as milling balls, or can simply be stacked two-high for returning to the mine. Fuel containers would be another option. In this way, the train will run full in both directions with rapid turnaround times.

Among dry port facilities envisaged along the railway, one at the southern end of Zambia, would provide connection with the Trans-Kalahari road corridor from Walvis Bay in Namibia, as some supplies to the mines are imported using this port.

The DRC connectionThis rail corridor will be able to undercut road rates and will be more environmentally friendly and reliable. At present, NWR is on course to start construction of Phase 1 early in 2015. The plan is to have two contractors working simultaneously from either end, to complete the first phase in 15 months.

Much of the new mining activity in the DRC, as in Zambia, is moving further west, the largest example being Ivanhoe’s Kamoa project, 25km west of Kolwezi. This mine, which is on track to open in 2017,

would be able to export its copper by road to a NWR railhead at Lumwana in Zambia, or – as suggested recently by Kavindele - a branch railway could be built connecting Lumwana to Kolwezi.

This route could assist the southern DRC’s import/export needs. While the line east from Kolwezi through Lubumbashi to Ndola in Zambia is operational, the 429km of railway west of Kolwezi to Dilolo near the DRC border with Angola is in very poor condition. Kavindele describes it as the DRC’s “missing link”. The new NWR link to Angola will provide a highly cost-competitive alternative, underpinned by the price of copper. “This more economical rail export channel will have the potential to make more marginal copper projects or producers profitable and will be a vital business artery for this region,” Kavindele concludes.


zAMbIAN RAIL

Copper anode on its way to Durban.

The new line will be a key component of First Quantum’s Trident operation at Kalumbila.

CHINA REPEATS HIGH-SPEED RAIL OFFEROn 27 August, during a five-day visit to Beijing by Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reiterated his support for the building of high-speed railways connecting major cities and business centres in Africa. The concept was a proposal put forward recently by former South African foreign minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who chairs the African Union Commission. The Xinhua News Agency quoted Li saying that building railways boosts his country’s exports of machinery and labour, giving China “a competitive edge”. China, the agency points out, had 11,028km of high-speed rail lines by 2013 - half the world’s total – and another 12,000km under construction. Currently it is prominent in railway construction in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya.

ANGOLACFB AND THE DRCCaminhos de ferro de Benguela (the 1,344km CFB), devastated by the prolonged Angolan civil war, is now completely rebuilt from the Atlantic Ocean at Lobito to Luau near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Chinese Construction Company has carried out the work to very high standards, using rail substantial enough to carry heavy loads such as iron ore. Luau, previously an inconspicuous village, now boasts an impressive, multi-track passenger station. A big container depot is being provided, together with associated bonded warehouses. A fully-equipped international airport is under construction. East of Luau, the original railway crosses the Kasai River, which marks the DRC border, into Dilolo.

Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Congolais (SNCC – the run-down state railway in the Democratic Republic of Congo) was recently lent some $US374 million by the World Bank. The money was said to be intended for upgrading the line from Kolwezi eastwards to Lubumbashi, as well as acquiring locomotives and wagons. Nothing definite seems to be in the pipeline for upgrading the virtually unusable 427km section between Dilolo and Kolwezi, though there is talk of this being tackled by Chinese endeavours. Immediately to the south however, a new railway is planned from Chingola in Zambia to connect with the CFB at Luacarno, 80km west of Luau.

CAMINHOS DE fERRO DE MOÇAMEDES (CfM)After some 20 years, passenger train service was restarted on Angola’s Caminhos de ferro de Moçamedes (CFM) in February 2013, following total reconstruction. Initially four trains were run each week but this dropped to two, an arrangement which continues as the current schedule. About 400 passengers are carried on each trip, serving the southern Huila and Cuando Cubango provinces. According to the Angolan news agency Angop, people using the trains are mainly traders, attracted by the low fares charged for both passengers and goods.

BOTSWANALOCO OVERHAULElectro-Motive Diesel (EMD) of the USA recently overhauled engines from Botswana Railways’ fleet of GT22LC2 units — its BD-2 class. The

Huambo station on Angola’s Caminhos de ferro de Benguela (CFB). Photo: Anton van Schalkwyk

AfRICA UPDATE

AFRICA UPDATE


engines out of individual locos were sent to EMD in America as Botswana Railways’ workshop facilities at Mahalapye have limited resources. It is understood that between 15-18 new locos of the GT42AC model are to be supplied by EMD to Botswana Railways.

REPUBLIC Of CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE)NEW EMD LOCOS New Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) type GT38AC locomotives are on order for the 1,067mm gauge Chemin de fer Congo-Océan (CFCO) which operates freight and passenger services from the Atlantic port of Pointe-Noire to the capital Brazzaville (502km), on the north bank of the Congo River.

EGYPTKUWAITI LOAN APPROVEDThe Egyptian government has approved an agreement with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development in terms of which a loan of 30 million dinars is to be provided to finance the provision of train control equipment and signalling in Banha, Zaqaziq, Isamailia and Port Said. According to the Egypt State Information Service in Cairo, the project aims to upgrade safety and reduce accidents on these lines, improve efficiency and increase capacity.

Botswana Railways BD-2 class loco (GE GT22LC2) at Francistown. Photo: Geoff Cooke

SAUDIARABIA

ASWAN DAM

JORDAN

ISR

AE

L

SUDAN

EGYPT

CAIRO

Abu Tarlour

El Kharga

Nag’Hammadi

El Korma

Isna

Aswan

Luxor

Oena

Sadd el Ali

Bur Sataga

Asyut

Beni Suef

El Wasta

SuezEl Shatt

IsmailiaFerdan

RafahPort Said

EL’Alamein

To Tobruk Mersa

Matruh SimilaSalum

Alexandria

El Faiyum

Railway outof use

Helwan

BahariaOasis

AY

BIL

N0 250 km

MEDITERRANEAN

RED SEA

AFRICA UPDATE


The single use crucibleRail Welding

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The single-use crucible reduces the risk of human error. It is made from a bonded refractory material inserted in an easy-to-handle five-litre container. Welds are more consistent. As there is no drying or pre-heating, weld times are much shorter. And the single use crucible is safer and minimises environmental impacts.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe-Noire

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GHANASTRIKE ALMOST HALTS GHANA TRAINSMembers of the Railway Workers Union of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) went out on strike on 21 July, citing poor working conditions but called off the action when President John Mahama intervened personally. Railway Workers Union chairman Alex Boateng was quoted saying that the management of the Ghana Railways Company had been directed to confer immediately with the Railway Workers Union, to address their grievances. President Mahama, Boateng said, had directed the finance ministry to disburse sums to fund inter alia work needed on the western lines where manganese and bauxite traffic was being delayed.

KENYARVR MECHANISES TRACK MAINTENANCERift Valley Railways (RVR) has introduced new track maintenance machinery including mechanised ballast tamping and profiling equipment. Kenya Shippers Council chairman Gilbert Langat, speaking during the commissioning at Mariakani, said the automation of track maintenance is expected to lower costs of transporting cargo and increase the amount of freight transported by rail.

SHACKS TO MAKE WAY FOR RAILWAYShacks that have sprung up in Mombasa on the route of Kenya’s new standard gauge railway, currently under construction by a Chinese company, are being removed by government order. Mombasa county commissioner Nelson

Marwa, speaking at a security meeting on 2 August, was quoted saying that people were deliberately encroaching on railway land, hoping to get compensation when their shacks were demolished. He urged anti-corruption officials to investigate how individuals gained access to the land. Marwa reportedly complained that state land near the airport “had been turned into hide-outs for criminals”. He said the tendency “poses a big risk for landing planes, apart from portraying the town as being disorganised.”

RVR COMPLETES FINAL DRAWDOWNRift Valley Railways (RVR) raised a $US164 million debt facility through leading global and East African financiers late in 2011, to fund its five-year turnaround programme. It has now completed the final drawdown of $69.6 million. The debt was part of a $287 million capital financing package provided in the form of a series of loans comprising $40 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB), $32 million from Germany’s KfW Bankengruppe and $22 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). RVR holds the franchise to operate the Kenya-Uganda railway linking the port of Mombasa to Kampala. The company is 15% owned by Uganda-based Bomi Holdings and 85% by Africa Railways Ltd, the railway subsidiary of Qalaa Holdings (a leading investment company in Africa and the Middle East).

Qalaa Holdings managing director Karim Sadek explains: “A portion of the proceeds from the drawdown will be used to sustain investments in GPS-based train operating technology, cargo-carrying capacity and infrastructure including rehabilitating 366km on the Nairobi-Kampala section of the line.” Total capex spending this year will exceed $US100 million, some of which will be used to add 1,400 wagons to the existing fleet.

According to RVR group CEO Darlan De David, “We have so far invested $120 million in revitalising the railway, surpassing the investment requirement threefold - only midway through the five-year investment period”. Since the start of the capex investment and turnaround programme in January 2012, RVR has rebuilt failing culverts between Jinja and Busembatia, allowing the direct passage of heavy freight trains through this section and cutting eight hours from the overall journey time.


AFRICA UPDATEAFRICA UPDATE

Keeping air FLOWing eFFicientLy

105 Theuns Street, Hennopspark, Centurion, 0157

PO Box 51063, Wierda Park, 0149, South Africa

www.vanrail.co.za

Tel: +27 (0)12 653 4595

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Email: [email protected]

GM84

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The company rebuilt and reopened the Tororo-Pakwach line in October 2013, following 20 years of disuse.

LIBERIANEW GE LOCOS

MOROCCOAFRICA’S 1ST HIGH SPEED LINE TO GET GSM-R Office National des Chemins de fer (ONCF – the national railway of Morocco) has awarded a contract worth ½€30 million to a consortium comprising Thales, Huawei and Imet for the installation of GSM-R along 712km of route. The five lines involved represent the first phase of a comprehensive project to be completed over the next nine years, which will see GSM-R installed on the whole of the country’s 1,923km rail

network, consisting of 14 lines. These include the new 185km high-speed line being built between Tangiers and Kenitra.

Morocco correctly claims this will be the first high-speed line in Africa. Trains will run twice as fast as Gautrain, whose 160km/r is nowhere near high-speed status in world terms.

Citadis tram in Casablanca. Photo: Wikipedia

Six additional ES44AC locomotives from General Electric are headed to ArcelorMittal in Liberia. Photo: R Durfee


AFRICA UPDATE

ALSTOM ENDS CASABLANCA TRAM CONTRACTFrench manufacturing group Alstom is withdrawing from a contract to maintain the newly built 30.7km light rail line in Casablanca, Morocco, citing “contractual unresolved differences”. These are with the consortium appointed by the Casa Transport authority, in terms of a ½€90 million, five-year contract to operate and maintain Line 1 from Ennassim to Ain Diab and Facultes. Alstom was engaged as a sub-contractor by the consortium, which comprises RATP Dev of Paris, the Moroccan Deposit and Management Fund (CDG) and holding company Transinvest. Alstom supplied the project with rolling stock, electrification equipment and signalling.

MOZAMBIQUELARGEST DIESEL LOCOS IN AFRICATen 4,000hp locomotives arrived in Mozambique recently on the heavy-lift vessel BBC Xingang for use by Sociedade Corredor Logístico Integrado de Nacala (CLIN) - 80% Vale / 20% CFM joint venture. At 176 tonnes (22t axle-load on eight axles) these General Electric BB40-9WM locos are the largest diesels in Africa. There are 50 in the current order, numbered 1800-1849 (GE 62356-62405 of 2014), with options on another 30.

MOATIZE TO NACALA BY CHRISTMASVale of Brazil, reputedly the world’s largest producer of iron ore, expects to run the first coal train from its mines at Moatize in Mozambique along a newly constructed rail link through Malawi to the northern port of Nacala before the end of 2014. An annual throughput of 18 million tonnes is foreseen.

The immediate future for this traffic is nowhere near as rosy as it was some years ago, however, Global prices for iron-ore decreased by almost 30% since the beginning of 2014, according to the latest reports. The lowest level in nearly two years was reached in June. Second-quarter net income reported by Vale was 43% below that for the quarter January-March 2014. Although the group has other interests, it is understood that some 85% of its profit is related to iron ore. Latest figures reflected meaningful cost-cutting endeavour, with expenses for January-June 2014 down $US249 million from the same period in 2013.

NAMIBIACOMMUTER RAIL FOR WINDHOEK Tenders have been invited from consultants interested in undertaking railway feasibility studies in the Namibian capital Windhoek. The main objective is to ease road traffic congestion by providing commuter train services. The successful tenderer will be required to prepare suggested route plans through suburban areas and estimate the extent of locomotive power and rolling stock that will be needed as well as the overall cost. Economic viability, environmental impact and engineering designs are mentioned in the brief.

NAMIBIA WRITES OFF CHINESE LOCOSTen years ago, TransNamib, the national railway of Namibia, bought four main-line diesel-electric locomotives from the Ziyang Locomotive Works, China North Railways (CNR) at a cost of N$42 million. There was considerable controversy over the purchase, with allegations of “kickbacks” and “gifts” that reportedly arrived with the engines, but these were never proved. The units gave endless technical trouble after being placed in service and have been sidelined out of use in recent years. Finally it has been decided to dispose of the locomotives, and tenders have been advertised (and sent to scrap dealers), together with ten

TransNamib is scrapping these locos imported from China.

redundant passenger coaches.

TransNamib senior engineer Joe van Zyl is quoted saying the locos are “unsafe to operate due to poor braking”. He listed a number of other technical problems.


AFRICA UPDATE

FAIL-SAFE LEVEL CROSSING CONTROL

Railway level crossings have since they were first built, been hazardous, and have claimed the lives of many who misjudged the speed of an approaching train. Now, in an attempt to improve safety at level crossings, a Croatian company, Altpro, has developed an advanced electronic level crossing safety system that has been extensively tested and certified for CENELEC SIL (Safety Intergrity Level) by TÜV Rheinland.

Named the RLC23 level crossing control, it uses the Altpro BO23 axle counter system (which has its own TÜV Rheinland certification for SIL4 safety level) for the detection of train movement. This is used with the APIS-RLC microprocessor control platform, both of which are mounted in the RLC23 control cabinet.

The APIS-RLC Control main microprocessor control unit is composed of two control platforms (A on the left and B on the right) with distributed control modules for controlling respective groups of external devices. Due to safety requirements, this system has been duplicated. The BO23 UNUR rack-axle counting evaluator can control up to eight counting points distributed over six sections

The equipment layout in the cabinet can vary depending on the number of tracks, number of road-side signals/lights and railway signalling requirements. The main functions APIS-RLC control system comprises two independent and separate control platforms (A & B) and operates in a basic configuration on a 2-out-of-2 voting principle. By duplicating certain executive modules in both control systems, 2-out-of-3 voting systems can be achieved, further enhancing level crossing availability.

Each platform:• Controls all roadside light signals (depending on the version)

and all sound signals/bells, that are initiated by a train or by manual activation.

• Monitors and controls the track-side driver’s white or yellow light signals and also monitors their current consumption.

• Controls the operation of the booms as initiated by a train or manually), and also monitors the integrity of the boom (for instance detecting if it is broken). Optionally, it can control a flashing light at the tip of the boom.

• Can monitor and control the operation of the road-side sound equipment/bells.

• Receives information from the Bo23 axle counter track-side sensors about both occupancy/clearance of the track sections and train direction.

• Continuously communicates with respective platforms in the remote monitoring stations

• Each platform controls indication/control board elements and receives manual commands governing functions such as on and off switching, forced manual restoring, testing/ disturbance simulation among others.

• Monitors the two battery power supplies, and AC power as well as correct functioning of the battery chargers.

• Records and retains data in non-volatile memory (safe in case of power failure). This records information such as date/time of last 10,000 trains passed, number of axles, occupancy, travel direction and speed, errors/faults/disturbances. This information is used for evaluation or investigation of past events.

Level crossings have always been a high-risk area for rail operations.

www.railwaysafrica.com

by Altpro d.o.o

LEvEL CROSSINg SAFETY

15Issue 4 // 2014 Railways Africa

EN 50205 standard and is easily configurable by using a Windows PC.

The APIS-RLC23 control system continuously receives information about rail occupancy/train position and direction over a counting point from the BO23 axle counter system. Any train movement will automatically lower or lift the boom depending on the train position.

A high level of configurability is possible to suit differing local level crossing requirements. For example, in the case of a train stopping between the switch-ON counting point and the road, the level crossing can be configured so that it automatically switches-ON and switches-OFF the barrier drive at required/preset times and for/the specified site “HALT” conditions.

Additional axle counters may be needed to suit specific operators’ requirements (e.g. when points machines are involved). Similarly, many configuration choices are possible to suit the control/interface of the train driver’s signalling (on the track) as well as the remote monitoring/control requirements of the operator.

For each level crossing, it is vital that the operator is in possession of detailed drawings applicable to each site, together with specific listings of the operational requirements for both track-side and roadside equipment. All such information must be discussed, fully understood and accepted by all parties involved in the implementation of level crossing protection. Without this indispensable interaction, the necessary degree of safety in the level crossing control system may not be achieved.

For further information please contact:Otok Consulting Enterprise [email protected] .

Duplicate systems in this RLC23 control cabinet give the Altpro fail-safe capability.

APIS-RLC control platforms rack(System A left, System B right)

Interface rack

Control-indication rack

Overvoltage protection rack

Axle counter (indoor device)BO23-UNUR rack

Overvoltage protection rack(additional if necessary)

Axle counter indoor deviceBo23-UNUR(additional if necessary)

Power supply block(battery charger etc.)

Input-output cabinet connectors

The control system can be configured for additional functions that may be necessary for a particular application and to comply with various operational regulations.

The RLC23 system can control up to four tracks with one control system/evaluator. One Altpro Bo23 axle counter system can perform complete train detection on two tracks of an open line.

When track-side railway signal lights that inform the train driver about level crossing conditions are installed, this system controls their on and off cycles and continuously monitors the current reaching each filament. When installed, the control system can also monitor or control the power supply to the crossing warning bells.

In terms of booms, two pairs can be controlled. An additional pair can be added only if they operate simultaneously with one of the first two booms, which will be operated at the same time). The lifting and lowering time of the booms is programmable to suit the site requirements.

Should a boom be damaged, level crossing control will alert the operator.

Regarding roadside lights and signals, authorities in various parts of the world have their own site requirements for the shape and number of signals/lights. This equipment may be of various types and can be made by any manufacturer.

The RLC23 level control system is immune to traction return-current in the rails. It has three-stage lightning/over-voltage protection, is EMC-immune according to the EN 50121-4 standard, uses safety relays with forcibly guided contacts according to the


LEvEL CROSSINg SAFETY

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meyers+partnersAmsted Rail Company • “Critical Link” • Railways Africa

September 2014

TFR COULD BE WORLD’S NO 5 RAILWAYTransnet Freight Rail CEO Siyabonga Gama told journalists early in August: “By 2020 we could become one of the top five railways in the world. There is an upward trajectory and a perceptible change in the way people see the parastatal. We are beginning to attract a cadre of people that ten years ago would not want to work at Transnet,” he said. “We want to become an employer of choice.”

Gama didn’t say which yardsticks he has in mind for the top five – annual tonnage moved, profitability, number of employees, route length of track, innovative achievements, etc. It’s a nice thought, though, and one of the top five on 1,067mm might give the gauge-obsessionists something to think about.

NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD TRAVEL SURVEY

The National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), conducted throughout the country by Statistics South Africa between February and March 2013 on behalf of the Department

RAIL NEWSSOUTH AFRICAN

of Transport, was released officially on 17 July 2014. Commenting on the report, transport minister Dipuo Peters said government recognises that accessibility to affordable, safe and reliable transport remains a challenge in certain areas. Compared with the previous survey in 2003, she said, the percentage of households who walk more than 15 minutes for access to public transport increased from 10.9% in 2003 to 14.4% in 2013. The percentage of learners who walk for more than 60 minutes to school increased to 5.7% from 4.8% in 2003. It was found that the percentage of households which use trains to get to work went up from 5.8% in 2003 to 9.9% in 2013. Minibus-taxi use rose from 59% in 2003 to 69% in 2013, while households using buses rose from 16.6% in 2003 to 20.2% in 2013.

Note: These are not total travel percentages (cars, a significant mode in urban areas, are not included) but percentages of public transport usage. They represent overall totals for the country as a whole. Modal share can vary extensively between cities, for instance Cape Town, where 56% of commuters use trains and nowhere near 60% rely on minibus-taxis.

Western Cape Metrorail website (www.capemetrorail.co.za) on 16 February 2011: “Metrorail transports 56% of the commuters who use public transport

[in Cape Town].”

TRANSNET CONTAINER & MINERAL VOLUMES UPTransnet Freight Rail (TFR) is currently handling about a million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) annually, compared to 150,000 in 2005. In the financial year ended 31 March 2014, the railway carried 25% more container and automotive traffic and 14% more minerals. Total rail volumes were up 1.3% to 210.4 million metric tons compared with the same period in the previous 12 months. Transnet profit

National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), 2013

Western Cape Metrorail 10M3 commuter set at Glencairn. Photo: Malcolm Bates.

SA RAIL NEWS


SA RAIL NEWS

fREE STATE ROUND-UPRecent photos by Jacque Wepener.

Phelophepa at Whites.

Grindrod diesel at Welkom.

Framed in steel: a Shosholoza Meyl intercity train near Koppies between Vereeniging and Kroonstad.

Following a visit to Bothaville. two class 34 diesels head Transnet Health Train Philophepa between Friedesheim and Welkom, heading to Whites.

Phelophepa at a country crossing on the main-line between Whites and Hennenman.

SA RAIL NEWS

rose 25%, chief executive Brian Molefe told reporters on 30 June. Net income, R4.14 billion in the previous year, increased to R5.17 billion. Revenue rose 13% to R56.6 billion.

During the period under review, coal volumes moved fell to 83.1 million tons (from 84.3 million tons in the previous 12 months) for several reasons including labour, and electricity supply problems at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal. Iron ore export volumes were also down. At 54.3 million tons for the year, this represented a decline of 3%.TFR TO REDUCE LOCO TYPES TO FOUR

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) aims to replace all locomotives aged 30 years or more within four years, chief executive Siyabonga Gama told journalists in Cape Town. To simplify the spares inventory etc, the present 29 different types of loco are to be reduced eventually to four. This objective will be facilitated by the continued introduction of dual-voltage electric units motive power at the 20-year age level is to receive “midlife refits”.

LOOTSBERG PASS RE-OPENING SOONIt is reported that the Port Elizabeth main-line is to be completely closed for about three weeks, probably in September, for extensive upgrading. This will include rail replacement, easing of curves and some regrading. The work forms part of preparations along the route from Sishen for the introduction of lengthy manganese ore trains. During the time when the main-line is closed to traffic, trains are to be diverted via Klipplaat and Rosmead. This section includes the Lootsberg Pass, which was closed in May 1993, ie 21 years ago. Restoration has been in progress here for some time, and most of the timber sleepers have been replaced with concrete.

Speaking recently about upgrading work on the manganese line to the port of Ngqura, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) chief executive Siyabonga Gama remarked: “80% of the world’s manganese reserves are in South Africa. We can become more competitive in the market if we have the correct infrastructure.”

BRANCH LINES AN IMPORTANT INITIATIVE - GAMATalking to journalists in Cape Town, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) chief executive Siyabonga Gama said branch lines represent “an important initiative”. TFR is to make between R200 and R400 million available annually for upgrading branch lines. “About 20 have been identified as possible candidates for revival and,” he said, “a model has been formulated that allows the private sector to come in and have access.” However, Transnet intends to retain ownership. Previous experience with concessioned branch lines, Gama explained, did not work. “We are not going down that road again, but are open to working with the private sector where the

different parties bring what they can to the table.”

Three branch lines said to be on the current agenda are Belmont-Douglas, Port Shepstone-Harding and Nkwalini-Melmoth. Gama made mention of Knysna-George - a popular tourist attraction before it was put out of action by washaways during major floods.

NIGEL & DUNNOTTAR ASSEMBLY PLANTSFor some sixty years, most of South Africa’s locomotives and passenger coaches have been built by the Union Carriage & Wagon company at its plant in Nigel, 24km south of Springs in Gauteng. Except for one initial trainset, all Gautrain’s coaches were assembled there, too. Originally set up by the Australian Comeng group, Union Carriage was acquired later by Murray and Roberts. Today, employing about a thousand people, it is owned by Patricia Norris’ Commuter Transport Engineering (CTE), which also renovates Metrorail rolling stock in Touws River and Pietermaritzburg. CTE was believed to be in talks with the Gibela consortium but it appears now that construction of Prasa’s new rolling stock is to begin in February in an entirely separate plant to be built at Dunnottar – very close to Nigel. Altogether, 580 six-coach trainsets are to be turned out here at a rate of about 60 annually. MOLOTO CORRIDOR “RAPID RAIL”

Following the initial needs-analysis phase (completed in February 2013) of the Moloto Corridor transport project north of Pretoria, the options analysis phase recommended “rapid rail” as the preferred mode. At a subsequent political oversight committee (POC) meeting in December, transport minister Dipuo Peters told parliament recently, the rapid-rail option was endorsed. A detailed investigation is presently in hand. A “wider gauge similar to Gautrain” is envisaged so that high-speed trains can be run. The line will be implemented and managed by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).

The project is a registered public-private partnership (PPP), the minister explained. Treasury regulations provide that six analyses must be carried out as part of the feasibility study. One of these is the valuation assessment which is currently in progress. On 5 August, minister Peters launched a Moloto project implementation and management office (PIMO) at Prasa. The new line is expected to cost R9.7 billion.

METRORAIL COACH REFURBISHINGDelivery of the new fleet of coaches on order for Metrorail will take a number of years to complete. This means that the programme to refurbish existing coaches will continue for some time – probably for at least 15 years. Annually at present about 500 coaches undergo refurbishing. It is understood that some R2.1 billion has been spent on these projects in the past four years.


Union Carriage & Wagon at Nigel built these 4-coach electric multiple unit sets (25kV AC) for Taiwan.

Transnet Freight Rail container business has increased dramatically. Photo: Eugene Armer.

PRASA DOUBLES ALSTOM’S ORDER BOOKThe order book at France’s Alstom is looking good, largely thanks to the 600 six-coach emu sets being built for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa). Orders for rolling stock received by the French manufacturer this year total some ½8.2 billion in value – doubling the previous figure.

METRORAIL FIGURESSpeaking at the Southern African Transport Conference, which took place at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) International Convention Centre in Pretoria, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa group CEO Lucky Montana said the government will continue to subsidise Metrorail commuter trains. The amount allocated for the year 1996 - R1.4 billion – has increased to the present R3.8 billion a year. Referring to the level of patronage, Montana said passenger numbers declined from 700 million in 1982 to 390 million in 1993. Today approximately 1.7 million people are carried on Metrorail trains every weekday. DAYLIGHT SITTER WITHDRAWNThe final once-weekly “Daylight Sitter” Johannesburg-Durban-Johannesburg intercity train had only 14 passengers aboard.

GAUTRAIN NEWSGAUTRAIN’S SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDThe Gautrain airport rail service has received the Global AirRail Alliance Award (GARA) for customer service excellence. The award recognises best practices in intermodal travel around the world. “This proves,” Gauteng MEC Ismail Vadi says, “that the Gautrain can compete with the best in the world. What we have here is an integrated transport system that encourages economic growth.”

ANOTHER R300M TO FIX GAUTRAIN TUNNELMurray & Roberts spent R200 million on earlier, unsuccessful attempts to stem water leaking into the Gautrain tunnel. Late in 2013, South Africa’s Arbitration Tribunal ruled that as the amount of water seeping into parts of the tunnel over a specified period was higher than that provided in the contract, this shortcoming has to be corrected by the Bombela consortium at its cost. Murray and Roberts, which has a 45% share in Bombela, says it is making an “early provision of R300 million”. The company emphasised in November 2013 that “functionality and safe operation of the [Gautrain] system is not threatened by the inflow.”


Revolution in Train Control

The application of cellphone technology to the world of train control is revolutionising the way operators manage traffic on their rail networks. Railways Africa spoke to the integrated marketing communications manager at Huawei Technologies SA, Sophia Liu and Bombardier rail control solutions head of sales and business development in Sub-Saharan Africa, Lucien Peters about GSM-R and the implications of its use in railway control and communications.

Compared to equipment used previously, GSM-R is revolutionising the way trains are operated. “The majority of railways in Africa still rely on analogue signalling methods. Many can be considered near-obsolete and need to be upgraded,” Liu says.

A homogeneous, standardised control system is required, Peters explains, appropriate to conditions in Africa.

ERTMSAt the time when GSM-R was evolving in the 1990s, the European Union (EU) was looking for means of reducing delays caused to trains that crossed international borders. Though the provision of electric locomotives able to run on different voltages in adjoining countries was overcoming the necessity to change engines, the existence of entirely different signalling and operating methodology complicated in-cab equipment and the demands made on drivers. Recognising that interoperability of trains across borders had to be streamlined, the desirability of a scheme of things common to all countries on the continent resulted in the setting of a standard known as the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS).

It comprises two major components: equipment in-cab and GSM-R communications. By now, since a great many people had had GSM technology in their pockets for a decade or more, it was decided to make it compatible with railways in the form of GSM-R.This brought about a huge leap in the versatility of train control. Whereas analogue communication could offer voice only, GSM-R provides both voice and data. The implications for safety and operational efficiency are profound.

In March 2014, global ICT solutions provider Huawei, together with Bombardier Transportation, signed a $US51 million contract with Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) to instal ERTMS together with GSM-R infrastructure. Huawei will be responsible for the design and implementation of the GSM-R, with Bombardier providing their proven Bombardier Interflo 550 communications-based train control, with full automatic train protection (ATP).

“If you look at the GSM-R solution from Huawei, it has two distinct advantages,” Liu points out.

Firstly, it is the only one in the industry providing complete geographic backup coverage. In terms of this, all the railway’s operational data is stored at a number of locations. In the event of a problem at any one of these, for instance a fire, a flood or damage by vandalism, train operation remains totally unaffected, because all the data and processing needed continues to be fully accessible. The strategy is applied and works at several levels, ensuring the highest degree of reliability.

The second advantage of the Huawei GSM-R solution is that it takes likely requirements at a later stage into account, such as the provision of on-board broadband data at the time when a railway decides to upgrade its GSM-R network to Long Term Evolution (LTE). A future standard for wireless communication, this will provide further opportunities in the evolution of train control and data transfer.

LTE’s real-time video transmission capability will result in faster response times for emergency services and other critical functions.”The solution takes care of bandwidth limitations and has a high level of availability,” Peters emphasises. The combined technology offered by Huawei and Bombardier makes it possible to increase the capacity of a railway by reducing the headway between trains.

SAFETY ASPECTSThe safety aspects however - which are critical - are significant. The train control solution being delivered in Zambia is designed to increase the safety of train movements by reducing the risk of potentionally dangerous incidents caused by driver or train control officer (TCO) error. The on-board computers, which communicate via the GSM-R network to the train control centre, will safely manage train movements. Should a train pass a given point without proper authorisation, the on-board computer will automatically apply the brakes.

A significant advantage of the Interflo 550 ERTMS system with GSM-R, which uses virtual blocks, is that the interval between successive trains can be reduced considerably without sacrificing safety, Peters explains. This feature however will be of little if any benefit to ZRL under present conditions, with trains running very infrequently.

Peters uses the analogy of cars moving on the road: “Cars travelling at high speeds on freeways will keep a much greater distance between them than when travelling at low speeds in dense traffic.” Bombardier’s virtual block train control systems allow trains to travel more efficiently, whilst maintaining a safe stopping distance. This offers TCOs increased flexibility.

VANDALISMVandalism is a constant challenge to railways everywhere and Zambia is no exception. Equipment located at the lineside is most at risk and here the Bombardier ERTMS /Huawei GSM-R system scores markedly. Because most of its apparatus is installed on board the locomotives, the amount of equipment needed on the ground next to the track is reduced dramatically.

ADvANCED SIgNALLINg


Huawei’s integrated marketing communications manager Sophia Liu and Bombardier’s head of sales and business development Lucien Peters.

INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION ABOUT A CAREER IN RAILLarge contracts awarded recently in the South African rail industry will create heavy demands on skills. Though maths, science and technology are being prioritised, it is essential that careers in the industry be promoted at high school level.

This year D3 launched a programme called “Discover your career” with emphasis on key areas in the economy.

On 5 August, D3 held its first “Discover your career in rail” industry initiative at Oosrand Secondary School in Boksburg. Directly addressing the scarcity of skills, its particular aim is to attract young people to a rail-related career. “By stimulating interest, pupils throughout Greater Gauteng will be made aware of opportunities in the rail sector,” D3 managing director Lara Slogrove explains.

The event, made possible by the participation of Transnet Freight Rail and Bombardier Transportation, was well received - and a significant number of learners registered their career interests on the D3 database. Corporate backing, if maintained, will enable this initiative to continue providing encouragement to learners to follow a career in rail.

Transnet Freight Rail’s communication specialist Enos Marobane spoke about railway safely awareness, the school being close to several level crossings.

The International Railway Journal reports that Pacific National Australia, has taken delivery of the first two of seven multi-engine N-ViroMotive locomotives from National Railway Equipment Company (NRE), United States. The locos will be used for shunting operations in the BlueScope steelworks at Port Kembla in New South Wales. The remaining five units will be delivered over the next few months.

“With rail operators around the world striving to cut costs,

N-VIROMOTIVE LOCOS GAIN TRACTIONthe ultra-economical N-ViroMotive offers a highly fuel and maintenance efficient alternative to conventional single-engined main line locos,” says Mike Howard of GmarH, the South African agents for NRE.

NRE entered the South African market last year with the founding of NRE South Africa in collaboration with GmarH. Though it is not confirmed at present, there might be a possibility of local manufacture.

TRAININg


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CAMELS & CADILLACSbOOk REvIEW

by Phil Girdlestone

Girdlestone traces every intimate technical detail that went into the design, operation, fault-finding, problem correction and notable service life of the class 25s. He manages this so expertly and so readably that a non-engineer (like this reviewer) couldn’t put it down. Faultless engineering drawings complement the text. The many photos are undoubtedly the best yet put together of this very special engine.

Cadillac - the name of a Frenchman who founded the city of Detroit, USA, in 1701 – is best known as a luxury motor car. Enginemen in South Africa applied it to the fifty non-condensing versions of the 4-8-4 – the class 25NC – which made short shrift of the De Aar-Kimberley so-called racetrack, aka the Steel Kyalami. In due course, as electric wires penetrated into the arid Karoo problem areas, the condensers were converted to 25NCs. Though unsurpassed at saving water, they were costly to run.

The book is beautifully printed (in Latvia!), attractively laid out in easy-to-read double column format with footnotes and captions at the side rather than beneath. Finishing touches are given by Bruno Martin’s – as always - superb maps.

ISBN 978-91-7266-185-1 Malmö, Sweden, Frank Stenvalls Förlag, 2014160 pages A4, c200 photographs, technical drawings and maps, hardbound with laminated dust jacket.

R475 plus postage [email protected]

Outside Africa: from [email protected]

South Africa’s remarkable class 25 of 1953 is the camel of the title. Its exhaust steam, after the pistons had used it making the wheels go round, was piped back to a tender longer than the engine itself where giant fans cooled it back into water. The water was fed into the boiler which converted it to steam. Which was used to make the wheels go round. It was the nearest thing to perpetual motion – and a real camel . To the railway, more importantly, it used 85% less water than conventional engines on the very “dry” main-line through the Karoo, one of the biggest operating headaches at the time

Teething troubles were inevitable, their nature – in a field where nobody had a great deal of relevant experience – called for a high degree of resourcefulness, not least in the Pretoria laboratories of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). First it was oil mixed in the steam when it passed through the cylinders, then – more seriously – it was trouble in the smokebox. Since exhaust steam wasn’t expelled up the chimney in the usual way, a steam turbine-driven fan was provided to create the necessary draught. The source of the whining “wail” so characteristic of the locomotive, unfortunately the char (unburned fuel) in the smokebox caused the blower fan to wear rapidly.

The problem proved very costly and took a long time to solve. Detailing these and other difficulties – connecting rod failure being one of the least expected - occupies most of chapters 5 and 6.

Chapter 1 in Camels & Cadillacs provides comprehensive insight into South African locomotive history that preceded and led up to the development of the 25s, and tells the story of the individuals who contributed so much expertise and endeavour in maximising the locomotives’ ultimately impressive performance.

The class 25 was the largest non-articulated, less-than-standard-gauge steam locomotive ever built and the largest to use the Henschelcondensing system. R J Manton took this shot of 3511 (the last working condenser) in 1992, the final year of steam workings from Kimberley.

MISHAPS

One objective of our regular feature reporting and commenting on rail mishaps is to provide information and object lessons from Africa and abroad, in the hope that – in some cases at least - this might help avoid recurrences.

Mishap sUNPRECEDENTED VANDALISM IN CAPE TOWNOn 29 July 2014, signal cables were destroyed at 25 locations along the four-track line between Nyanga (20km from Cape Town’s main terminal) and Philippi (25km). The intensive commuter service beyond Nyanga to Chris Hani station (39.5km) in Khayelitsha and on the branch to Mitchells Plain (33km), both densely populated areas, were rendered inoperable. While repair work was in progress, further damage was caused at 02:00 on 1 August.

There was no evidence of cable being removed for sale to scrap dealers. This was deliberate, well organised sabotage, evidently designed to cause a maximum of disruption. In this it succeeded, as thousands reported late for work (if they could get there), seriously disrupting factories and commerce in Cape Town.

Buses were deployed as far as possible, but they could do little meaningfully – the trains consist of 12 and 14 coach sets, all very fully loaded. Fourteen Autopax (Prasa) buses and five Golden Arrow vehicles were assigned to the Khayelitsha route, and six Autopax buses and 15 from Golden Arrow were used along the line to Mitchells Plain.

Metrorail’s Riana Scott told radio news that the repair work cost in excess of R2 million. Vandalism and theft, which account for roughly 10% of delays to the train service, she said, have cost Metrorail some R382 million during the past three years.

ARSON ATTACKS

The intensive commuter service to Chris Hani was suspended from 20 August following the destruction of a motor coach and three trailers by arsonists who also attacked a station ticket office, as well as overhead catenary and supporting masts. Road traffic had to be diverted after support pillars beneath a road-over-rail bridge were damaged. Damage to rolling stock alone was estimated at R8 million.

The police subsequently made eight arrests. Apparently the culprits were

protesting at the breaking down of shacks, nowhere near the railway.

BUSES PITCH IN TO HELP TRAINS

In terms of a unique arrangement between a 100% government-owned entity and a 100% privately-owned company, Golden Arrow Bus Services in Cape Town accepts Metrorail weekly and monthly tickets on its scheduled routes when rail services suffer unavoidable, protracted disruption. Metrorail in turn accepts Golden Arrow multi-ride tickets in the case, say, of bus drivers going on strike.


MISHAPS

In the last week of July, the bus company immediately pitched in to help, following the destruction of signal cables which paralysed Cape Town’s busy Central Line. In addition, Golden Arrow extended its ordinary hours of operation until all railway passengers had been cleared.

DRAMATIC SWISS HELICOPTER RESCUE

Those incredible Swiss railways, clawing their way up and down and through mountains, almost never have an accident. When they do, as on 13 August, they do it in style. A passenger train running along a mountain ledge near Tiefencastel (not far from St Moritz) fell foul of a landslide following exceptionally heavy rain. The locomotive remained on the track but the coach behind it nose-dived into the adjacent ravine, landing up jammed against the trees. The second coach left the rails but stayed precariously poised on the edge. The occupants were instructed to make their way cautiously to the rear end, to maintain the balance. Eleven of the 140 passengers on the train were hurt, five seriously. (One died later in hospital). In the absence of road access, they were winched up into hovering helicopters which could not land on the mountainside.

PHILIPPINES TRAIN LANDS IN STREETOn 13 August, a Metro Rail Transit (MRT) train stalled between the Magallanes and Taft Avenue stations in Manila, reportedly due to power problems. The following train moved forward, coupled and pushed. Apparently the couplers did not mate correctly and the failed set broke loose. It ran away on a down grade, overshooting the end of the line at Taft Avenue, demolishing a barrier fence and landing up in a busy road. About 30 people were said to have been hurt, three fairly seriously. Press reports said there was a “huge traffic jam”.

PROTESTERS BURN NIGERIAN STATIONFollowing a recent increase in Nigerian commuter train fares, protesters set fire to the Itoki station, vandalised wagons and stole tickets, phones and money. The police made 100 arrests. Of these, 40 people appeared in the Ebute Metta magistrates’ court. Police Commissioner Nyats Jatau said the ringleader was among them. “Nemesis caught up with him,” he told the Nigerian News Agency NAN.

INFANT IN PUSHCHAIR ON LONDON UNDERGROUNDSensational CCTV photos published on 11 August showed a gust of wind blowing an infant in a pushchair off the platform onto the line at London Underground’s Goodge Street station. Apparently a man parked the chair at the foot of a stairway. A woman, presumably the child’s mother, was seen jumping down onto the rails and rescuing the child with little time to spare before the next train arrived.

London underground trains are powered by electricity collected from a live rail.

FATAL TRAM-TRAIN COLLISION AT VICTORIA FALLSA tourist from overseas died and about 20 were hurt on 1 July when a freight train from Thomson Junction hauled by diesel-electric class DE10A 1044 ran into the sightseeing tram at Victoria Falls station. Two seriously injured passengers were flown to South Africa for specialist attention but only one survived. It is understood that the tram, an open-sided old-time replica, had just started on its 20-minute journey through the rain forest to the bridge. Reportedly 25 passengers were from Europe and America. The wedding they were to attend was cancelled as a result of the accident.

EASTERN ORIENTAL EXPRESS DERAILSOn 27 July, five of the 18 coaches comprising the luxury Eastern and Oriental Express tour train derailed between the Sakosinarai and Luk Kae stations in Thailand’s Ratchaburi province. Two Japanese tourists on board were hurt and sent to hospital. The other passengers continued the journey by coach. It is suspected that heavy rain affected the stability of the track. Repairs were put in hand immediately and the international route was reopened to traffic within a few days. The train was reportedly on its way to the River Kwai bridge (notorious for its role during World War II) in the course of its Singapore-Bangkok run.

CRUCIAL LAC MÉGANTIC LOCO NEARLY AUCTIONEDThree employees of the defunct Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMAR) are on trial in Canada, charged with 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death. This follows the July 2013 incident when a parked MMAR crude oil train ran away and derailed in Lac Mégantic, exploding and wiping out most of the town. In a bizarre development , the lead locomotive of the train – which could provide crucial evidence – was about to be auctioned in the United States late in July 2014 when somebody was alerted and the sale was blocked, just in time. The authorities are endeavouring to discover how the loco got into America, where it was to be sold together with others from the MMAR which was bankrupted by the disaster.

On the night of the crash, the driver parked the train on the main-line with the engine running, to maintain air-brake pressure. Some time later, flames from the loco were extinguished by the local fire department, which shut down the engine. After an hour or so, apparently, air pressure was lost and the train ran away downgrade into Lac Mégantic. The locos remained on the track but the tankcars behind them derailed.


The tram at Victoria Falls. Photo: Geoff Cooke.

ZIMBABWE DERAILMENTS

One of two recent National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) derailments occurred at Igusi - 80km north of Bulawayo - on 27 June and the second, apparently the result of colliding with a fuel tanker at a crossing, was near Gwayi River (142km) the following day. There were no fatalities in either accident.

5KM SIDING STOLENThe former Union Carriage and Wagon (UCW) plant at Nigel in Ekurhuleni, now owned by rolling stock manufacturer CTLE, is connected to the 37km Springs-Kaydale railway by a lengthy private siding. Here on 10 July, five men were arrested and charged with stealing 5km of rail, worth an estimated R1.3 million as scrap metal. Thirty-three commuter coaches newly refurbished for Metrorail were stranded at the site, and other vehicles scheduled for rehabilitation could not be brought in. Thumbu Mahlangu, member of the Ekurhuleni mayoral committee for roads and transport, was quoted saying it was believed the theft had taken place at night.

BIZARRE PERTH INCIDENT MAKES WORLD NEWS

In less than 24 hours after an incident at Stirling station in Perth, Western

Australia, millions around the world had viewed the dramatic images. The right leg of a man boarding a train slipped between the platform and the coach doorway floor – and stuck fast. Several dozen passengers formed a line beside the coach, pushed in unison and managed to tip it sufficiently to free the trapped leg. Perth Public Transport Authority spokesman Davic Hynes and corporate communications media manager Claire Krol spent the night fielding calls from television and radio stations on four continents.

A similar incident in Ireland, reported on 27 August, went virtually

unnoticed. A 16-year-old on her way to school in Dublin had her leg trapped

until the combined efforts of bystanders succeeded in lifting one side of a

train coach sufficiently to free her. She was luckier than a 30-year-old Dublin

woman who lost a leg in a platform-train doorway incident at the Tara Street

station in February 2013.

PUEBLO, COLO: ANOTHER BIZARRE ACCIDENTThree teenagers in a 4x4 somehow managed to roll it on Interstate 25 in Pueblo, Colorado, on 10 August at a point where the highway runs beside the railway. An 18-year-old, who was literally hurled out of the vehicle, landed on the track immediately in front of an approaching train and was killed. Two 16-year-olds were taken to hospital, one severely hurt. According to a newspaper report, “police believe excessive speed was a factor and are investigating to see if drugs or alcohol also played a role.”

DISNEY MONORAIL TRAIN STRANDED IN MID-AIROn 13 July during a storm, one of three monorail trains was stranded without power several metres above ground at Disney World in Florida. Passengers said the train stopped after they saw a lightning strike, which may have caused the electricity failure. A mechanical hoist evacuated 120 people, some of whom, according to a local TV station, had to climb out of the coaches through ceiling hatches and walk along the roofs.

MORE THAN 50 HURT IN DURBAN COLLISIONOn the evening of 8 July, more than 50 people were reported hurt when one Metrorail commuter train ran into another waiting at a red light near Durban’s busy Berea Road station. Emergency services had their hands full attending to the injured and getting some to hospital. Access to the site of the accident was awkward; Metrorail turned off the power which meant that all train services were halted temporarily. Though passengers on the trains spoke of a loud bang followed by flying glass, no serious injuries were reported and there was apparently insignificant damage.

DERAILMENT LANDS BOEINGS IN RIVERNineteen wagons in a westbound freight train derailed on 3 July about 16km west of Alberton in western Montana. Six flatcars were carrying Boeing 737 fuselages and three of those landed in the adjacent Clark Fork River. No one was injured in the accident. The fuselages, produced by Spirit AeroSystems’ plant in Wichita, Kansas, were on their way to Boeing’s Renton assembly plant in Washington state which puts together more than two complete aircraft every day. The train that went off the track was also carrying fuselage panels, a “lower lobe” fuselage section for the 777, and a “leading edge flight surface” for a 747.

MISHAPS


Metrorail set marooned at Nigel. Photo: John Batwell.

Monorail at Disneyworld, California. Photo: editor

27Issue 4 // 2014 Railways Africa

ROVOS RAIL, PRETORIASummarised motive power situation at South African luxury rail tour operator Rovos Rail:

Serviceable: 439, 3442, 3533 and 3360. Dump: 2702 and 3440, also 3484 (was in process of being

scrapped during June).

SANDSTONE ESTATES, EASTERN OfS

At the “Stars of Sandstone” gala in April, the newest addition to the steam fleet was christened - Avonside no 1624, built in 1912. This 102-year-old was formerly at Sanrasm.

fILMING AND OPEN DAYSWinter’s weather conditions bring out the steam photographers for great effects and this year was no different. In late May, a photographic weekend was held by Pretoria’s Friends of The Rail.

By John Batwell

They were joined in their Open Day early in July by Reefsteamers, who brought across their working class 15F 4-8-2 no. 3046. Also in July, Reefsteamers hosted a photographic session and an Open Day in Germiston on two consecutive weekends, Their class 12AR 4-8-2 no. 1535 was back in service in time for the photo shoot.

REEfSTEAMER’S SUNDOWNERA new sundowner train is on the cards. The steam train is to depart

at 18:00 from Rhodesfield’s Metrorail station, which has direct access from the Gautrain station. Running south via Germiston, the train will head onto the Rand Mineral Line, passing Kaserne and to the south of Johannesburg city. At New Canada junction it will loop back to Langlaagte, then return to Rhodesfield through Johannesburg station, Jeppe and Germiston. The trip is to take about two hours, getting back to Rhodesfield by around 20:00. All drinks and snacks on the train will be covered by the ticket price, including a welcoming cocktail on the platform before departure. Catering is to be by professionals. Passengers will be seated in Reefsteamers’ day-sitter coaches with facing seats - ideal for parties of between two and eight people.

In another innovation, Reefsteamers is running steam-hauled excursions from Rhodesfield to Irene, 14km south of Pretoria. Here passengers can visit the Irene Trading Post (adjacent to the station) or the Irene Dairy and Village Market, a two-minute bus ride away. The inaugural run took place on the second week-end of August.

STEAM NEWS OUT Of ZIMBABWEAfter many years under repair, 15th class Garratt no. 414 is back on the available roster. She ran a test trip to Cement on the Gweru line at the end of March and performed well. A second test outing – this time to Figtree - was run before operating a Mothers’ Day passenger special to this station in May. Class 16A Garratt no. 613 was in steam in early April too, having done a test trip to Cement. She went out light engine as there was no load at Mpopoma but did bring some wagons back to Bulawayo.

On Sunday 13 April, no. 613 worked a 60km round-trip leisure excursion from Harare to Ruwa (on the line to Mutare). It was the second time this year that the NRZ’s eastern area had witnessed a steam operation. A similar Harare-Ruwa run during February was handled by 15th class no. 395, as previously reported in this


RAILWAY HERITAgE

Preservation is a Vital Part of the Picture

Memories of another time - Rovos Rail’s class 25NC 4-8-4 steam locomotives 3484 and 3442 on a charter in Zimbabwe. Photo: RTC

Avonside no. 1624 of 1912 vintage: the latest working steam loco at Sandstone Estates in the Eastern Free State. Photo: N Berelowitz

column. Both trains were well patronised. For the April run, 295 people were on board. Class 14A 2-6-2 + 2-6-2 no. 519, which hauled a successful Valentine’s Day outing to Figtree in February, was identified in July as a hire loco to the colliery at Hwange. NRZ had four Garratts on the active roster in April - the best situation for a couple of years – and three different classes at that. All would have been available for the customary annual steam tour of Zimbabwe, held usually during May, but sadly this

was cancelled by Tanago Tours, due to insufficient bookings.On 1 June, Garratt no. 414 was in charge of a special to Figtree and return, in celebration of Bulawayo’s 120th Anniversary as a town. (The first train into Bulawayo arrived three years later). During July, this loco was spotted on shunting duties in Bulawayo station yard.

STEAM LOCO LIT UP IN KENYA fOR fILMINGFormer East African Railways’ North British-built class 30 2-8-4 no. 3020 Nyaturu (NBL 27466) was steamed during early May for ITV’s forthcoming series Slow Train Through Africa with Welsh comedian, writer and presenter Griff Rhys Jones. It is due for screening in about six months’ time. The filming took place on the Nairobi-Naivasha run.

KENYA TOUR CANCELLEDA rail tour of Kenya, planned initially by UK safari operator Geoff Cooke for October 2014 and later deferred to early 2015, has been cancelled. Both Britain and the USA advised against non-essential travel to the area, following incidents of local instability. Cooke is to maintain contact with Kenya in the hope of reinstating a tour in the not too distant future.


RAILWAY HERITAgE

Germiston club, Reefsteamers, ran its class 12AR and class 15F locos for enthusiasts at the photo shoot in July. Photo: J. Attwell

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AND IN THE FIFTH PLACE IS …

END OF THE LINE


Transnet Freight Rail, CEO Siyabonga Gama says, could be the world’s fifth best railway by 2020.

It’s time to stand up and be countedAnd rated among the world’s best.

Ensuring our railway’s fifth longestWhen it’s compared with the rest.

It’s not just a matter of yardsticks -Whether ours is better than yours.

Fifth place is enough for the moment;To hell with the threes and the fours.

True - we’d feel downcast and slightedIf placed number six (or below)In terms of job totals created

And if market share made a poor show.

It’s time to stand up and be counted,To work out whose railways are best.

We’ll have the fifth highest tally of locosFrom China - also some from the west.

With regard to the question of mishaps –Derailments, collisions and such:

According to mischievous rumour,We’re second, not fifth. This is tough.

It’s not that we want to be biggestOr even the second in line

Fifth place is all we aspire toSo five as a number is fine.

It’s time to stand up and be countedAs members of Africa’s clique.Without our wagons to borrow,The continent’s hopes be bleak.

Two-thousand-and-twenty and counting;All branchlines and stations rehabbed.With heavy-haul coal and ore railings,Fifth place should be easily grabbed.

It’s time to stand up and be countedAnd rated as next-after-four.

Africa’s finest’s our target We aren’t asking for anything more.

- LRD

CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS

Dear editor

In a recent sar-L instalment of his Soul of a railway, Charlie Lewis’ quotes one of the fascinating “Chapter of accidents” that we used to look forward to in Railways Africa. What happened to the series?

- Frik van der Merwe (no relation to Jack)

Editor Helmuth Hagen used to select an accident investigation report from a collection dating back to his top-brass days on the SAR. Wally Brass, a fellow retired railway engineer, would write it up for publication. Sadly, Helmuth died in April 2005 and within a fortnight, Wally was gone too. With inspiration and source pulled suddenly from under our feet, we did some serious thinking. Eventually a new series – still running today – was devised, entitled simply “Mishaps”. It’s appeared weekly since 2006 on www.railwaysafrica.com (which didn’t exist in Helmuth’s day) and is archived for easy reference. A selection of items is carried forward to the magazine. The scope now includes railway mishaps around the world.

- EDITOR

RAILWAY CALENDAR 2015Here it is - 2015 ready to hang on your wall! Stunning photos from top railway photographers, motive power from steam to diesel to modern electrics. Magnificent 610mm gauge at Sandstone in the eastern Free State. Cross-border trains with National Railways of Zimbabwe stock and SA motive power. And more!

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CAMELS AND CADILLACS

(see review on page 24)The term “camel” is derived via Latin and Greek (camelus and ½½μ½½½½ kamēlos respectively) from Hebrew or Phoenician gēmēl. The Hebrew meaning of the word gēmēl is derived from the verb root g.m.l, meaning stopping, weaning, going without; This refers to its ability to go without food or water.- Wikipedia

When the camel exhales, water vapour becomes trapped in its nostrils and is reabsorbed into the body as a means to conserve water.

- Wikipedia

CORRESPONDENCE

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language

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