TR ANSNET has awarded a total of R50bn worth of contracts to two Chinese and two North American railway groups for the building of 1,064 electric and diesel locomotives as part of its R308bn market demand strategy to 2019. Chinese groups CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive and CNR Rolling Stock SA and their empowerment partners will make about 60% of the locomotives, in what Transnet says is the largest ever locomotive supply contract in South Africa’s history.Bombardier Transportation SA and General Electric SA Technologies and their empowerment partners will build the rest.All the locomotives, except for 70, will be built in Transnet Engineering’s plants in Pretoria and Durban. Along with preferential procurement and local content stipulations, this will significantly benefit South African manufacturing, providing technology transfer, high level technical skills, and on-the-job training.CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive and Bombardier Transportation SA will supply 599 electric locomotives between them, while General Electric SA Technologies and CNR Rolling Stock SA will provide another 465 diesel locomotives in total. This marks a significant milestone in (Transnet’s) history together with substantial socioeconomic benefits for South Africa, Brian Molefe, Transnet group CE, said on Monday.Mr Molefe said the transaction would create and sustain 30,000 jobs in total, while substantially reducing freight congestion on South African roads. By 2019, about 350-million-metric tonnes of freight a year would be carried by Transnet, up from slightly more than 200-million tonnes a year now.This is the second Transnet award for CSR Zhuzhou Electric. In October 2012, Transnet had awarded a group led by the Chinese railway manufacturer a R2.6bn contract for 95 electric locomotives. Business day!
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 20:29:24 +0000
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