South African Class 43-000. In January 2011 Transnet Rail Engineering at Koedoespoort in Pretoria took delivery of the first two of one hundred and forty-three Class 43-000 General Electric type C30ACi diesel-electric locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail. A further eight were shipped from the United States of America in April 2011. In July 2011 the first of the one hundred and thirty-three locally built locomotives was rolled out at the Koedoespoort shops in Pretoria.[3]A tendering process in 2006 and 2007 had selected Electro-Motive Sibanye, a joint venture between Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) and Sibanye Trade and Services, as preferred bidder to supply two hundred and twelve locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail (TFR). Sibanye was a South African Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) company dealing with locomotives and spare parts. However, this agreement was cancelled amid reports and then confirmation of tender irregularities.[4][5]A new tendering process was initiated, which invited three locomotive manufacturers, EMD, General Electric (GE) and Siemens, to bid for a contract to build one hundred new diesel-electric locomotives. In 2009 GE was announced as being the successful bidder.[6]The Class 43-000 GE type C30ACi diesel-electric locomotive was designed by GE Transportation Systems, a division of GE. The first ten locomotives were built by GE in Erie, Pennsylvania and imported. They were delivered in January and April 2011 and were numbered in the range from 43-001 to 43-010.[7] The rest were built by Transnet Rail Engineering (TRE, later Transnet Engineering, TE) and GE South African Technologies (GESAT) at the Koedoespoort shops of TRE in Pretoria and were numbered in the range from 43-011 to 43-100. The first of these, 43-011, was rolled out in July 2011.[8]At the beginning of 2012 the contract was extended for the construction of a further forty-three locomotives, to be numbered in the range from 43-101 to 43-143. On 27 June 2012 TRE and GESAT celebrated the roll-out of the fiftieth Class 43-000 locomotive produced at Koedoespoort, marking the completion of 60% of the first contract for the supply of one hundred locomotives.[8]Upon completion of the TFR order, the TE production line at Koedoespoort will continue to manufacture C30ACi diesel-electric locomotives for customers elsewhere on the African continent. Since the C30ACi is the latest state-of-the-art GE locomotive, specifically designed and built for Cape gauge which is widely used in West and Southern Africa, potential customers may include Ghana, Nigeria, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of the Conco, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, south-western Tanzania and Zimbabwe.[9]The locomotives were constructed with both safety and crew comfort in mind. The cab is equipped with a Loco-cam, an air conditioner, a refrigerator located adjacent to the cab front door and a toilet in the form of a Porta Pottie with a floor drain to wayside.[3]The GE type C30ACi was the first AC diesel-electric locomotive to be introduced in Sub-Saharan Africa and also the first to meet with the UIC II emissions standards of the International Union of Railways (Union Internationale des Chemins de fer, UIC). It met with the emissions standards for brake-specific nitrogen oxides, unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. The locomotives were expected to be more fuel-efficient and to produce lower emissions than typical diesel-electric locomotives operating in South Africa until then.[8][10]Traction and brakes[edit]Compared to the, on average, thirty-year-old existing TFR diesel-electric locomotive fleet at the time, the Class 43-000 also offered a greater continuous tractive effort and a higher adhesion capability, allowing the same amount of freight to be hauled with fewer locomotives by replacing four of the older locomotives with three of the new models.[11][12]Should a locomotive lose a traction motor, the same power is redistributed to the remaining five traction motors. The Class 43-000 is the first South African diesel-electric locomotive to have dynamic braking all the way down to crawling speed at 1 km/h.[13]The Class 43-000 was initially placed in service on the line from the Mpumalanga Lowveld via Swaziland to Richards Bay, and during 2012 also on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore export line.[14] In 2013 new Class 43-000s were also observed at the Pyramid South locomotive depot north of Pretoria.On the Sishen–Saldanha Orex line GE Class 34 series and Class 43-000 diesel-electric locomotives run consisted to Class 9E and Class 15E electric locomotives to haul the 342 wagon iron ore trains. Each wagon has a 100 ton capacity and the trains are at least 3.72 kilometres (2.31 miles) in length, powered by mixed consists of Class 9E and Class 15E electric, GE type U26C Classes 34-000, 34-400, 34-500 and 34-900 and, from 2012, GE type C30ACi Class 43-000 diesel-electric locomotives. In South Africa mixed electric and diesel-electric consists are unique to the Orex line.[15][16][17]
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 11:20:06 +0000
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