ROLLING STOCK | PERWAY | INFRASTRUCTURE | SIGNALLING | OPERATORS | LOGISTICS ISSUE 1 // 2016 EDITOR’S COMMENT RAILWAYS AFRICA 1-2016 Luck Of The Irish A guy called Murphy has this well-known law: if anything can go wrong, it will. For instance, if a train from East London hits a cow early in January, damaging the locomotive, a 17-coach express heading for the coast with anything up to 1,200 passengers on-board won’t be able to get past. If the passenger train has already spent five hours in a heatwave at Burgersdorp, standing face-to-face with another train in the middle of nowhere, it will have run out of water and the toilets will be overflowing. Not all that far away, Murphy seems to have had his hands full, with a train from Port Elizabeth that was Photographed this in the municipal transport supposed to take 20 hours to Johannesburg. It was workshops at Seattle. battling with binding brakes, overflowing toilets and no water. In the end it was to take 33 hours to complete its journey. Attempts to contact Shosholoza Meyl offices were unsuccessful. Nobody answered (Murphy again). The train manager said there was nothing she could do. Eastern Cape area operations manager for Shosholoza Meyl, Nosipho Mancotywa wasn't aware of any complaints regarding the lack of water but she confirmed the lengthy delays with News24. Mancotywa said the signals were not working at Cradock because the electricity was off. Murphy can be a real devil where electricity is involved and he is a dab hand with cockroaches. On 28 December, passengers on an overnight Translux coach from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth had to stay awake all night fending off the insects, which appeared – judging from the photos they took - to have as good as taken over the vehicle. Translux said in its reply to the complaint: "We are currently reviewing our current service contract with the intention of strengthening this area of our business." Judging from similar complaints aired on HelloPeter late last year, Murphy was running loose with cockroaches on Translux buses everywhere. The message? Arguing with Murphy gets you nowhere, but people who anticipate his worst endeavours, people who devise measures to avoid or minimise their effect, may just be a step ahead. It’s no good being the best railway in Africa – or the fifth biggest in the world - if it falls down the moment something goes wrong. The best railway is the one that expects problems and has the means in place to deal with them. And, long-distance passenger trains that run out of drinking water because of delays that aren’t supposed to happen have no excuse – none at all. Rollo Dickson – editor Seattle is one of five US cities still running electric trolleybuses. Photo: S Morgan- Wikipedia 2 WWW.RAILWAYSAFRICA.COM The Railway Engineers choice for Depot Equipment! 12 Laser Park Square Tel: +27 11 794-2910 34 Zeiss Road Email: [email protected] Laser Park Web: www.yalejhb.co.za Honeydew South Africa Yale_RL312_DepotEquipment.indd 1 2015/09/14 1:51 PM RAILWAYS AFRICA 1-2016 RAILWAYS AFRICA PUBLISHER In this issue Rail Link Communications cc Phillippa Dean Editors Comment 2 Railway Expansion in Egypt 6 EDITOR Rollo Dickson Booyco on Track with Plans to Expand 8 Eskom's Majuba Line 10 STAFF WRITER Mandy Thompson Vale's Ncala Rail Plan 12 Africa Update 14 DESIGN & LAYOUT RME Broadens Their Horizons 30 Andrew McGarrity Craig Dean South African Road-Rail Vehicle Innovator 34 SA Spotlight 36 WEBSITE Craig Dean IEC Holden SA In Motion 42 Michael Lotriet Company News 44 ADVERTISING Mishaps 48 Ophelia Naidoo End of the Line 56 SUBSCRIPTIONS Ophelia Naidoo Project Manager Nicole Barnes CONTRIBUTORS BOOYCO ON Andre Kritzinger TRACK WITH ESKOM'S Bruno Martin PLANS TO MAJUBA LINE Jacque Wepener Peter Bagshawe EXPAND 8 10 ISSN 1029 - 2756 RME VALES NCALA BROADENS Rail Link Communications cc RAIL PLAN THEIR HORIZONS 13 Sixth Street Melville Gauteng 12 30 2092 SOUTH South Africa AFRICAN IEC HOLDEN ROAD-RAIL Tel: +27 (0)11 482 3392 SA IN MOTION [email protected] VEHICLE INNOVATOR The copyright on all material in this magazine is expressly reserved and 34 42 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 or Contributors can be held Railways Africa liable for any inaccuracies or damages that may arise. E&OE. online All Rights Reserved. www.railwaysafrica.com 4 WWW.RAILWAYSAFRICA.COM Technology leader Maximized customer benefit Turnout system solutions for Africa and the rest of the world voestalpine VAE SA (Pty) Ltd 23 Anvil Road, Isando 1600, South Africa Tel: +27 11 928 3700, Fax +27 11 928 3910 [email protected] www.voestalpine.com/vaesa EGYPT RAILWAYS AFRICA 1-2016 Railway expansion in Egypt Egypt's economy has experienced sustained growth in the last four years due in part to the increasing stability of its government and its commitment to investing in ambitious large-scale infrastructure projects such as the development of the Suez Canal Zone (SCZ). As Egypt's economy and population both expand, the shortcomings of its national and urban transport networks are being addressed with the same enthusiasm and dedication that saw the SCZ development delivered in record time. At the latest Egypt Economic Development Conference, minister for transport Hany Dahy announced a list of projects in various transport sectors for the coming 15 years with investments worth $US13.5 billion. Cairo Metro Line 3. Photo Wikipedia The railway sector is a key component in improving Egypt's transport network. The minister said they are seeking to maximise the role of railways in the transport of freight and passengers, with three projects at a combined investment level of over $1 billion for freight development and over $5 billion in high-speed rail lines. Not only will the new rail projects help alleviate urban mobility issues and freight operation inefficiencies; they are designed to improve efficiency and safety of the existing rail network through automation, improved signalling and communications. Major Rail and metro infrastructure projects currently under way in Egypt include: Cairo Metro Line 3 • Extension works investment level: $2.7 billion • Project initiation date: 2007 • Estimated completion date: early 2022 • Key project benefits: expansion of Cairo metro capacity to 1.5 million daily passengers Project details: With over 22 million inhabitants, Cairo is one of the most heavily populated cities in the world and as it expands further it requires greater public transport coverage and efficiency. According to recent surveys, only 14% of Cairo residents own a private car, which means that the greater part of the burden of urban mobility falls on shared taxis and buses. The Cairo metro system is one of the most popular modes of public transport as it is affordable, reliable and fast. The Cairo Metro already has 78km of track along two fully operational lines, with a third being completed and opened in stages. Work on the 33km Line 3 began in 2007 and phases of the final extension works are still under way. According to transport minister Hany Dahy, a contract is to be signed with the Franco-Egyptian alliance to carry out the final phase of the third metro line. The cost of constructing the final phase amounts to £E 11 billion [$1.4 billion] and will be funded from the state treasury. 6 WWW.RAILWAYSAFRICA.COM RA_Aberdare ad_297x210_.pdf 1 2015-06-17 03:41:11 PM JWT66770 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Locomotive cable you can trust Aberdare cables, a leading manufacturer of power cables since 1964, prides itself on producing quality products that you can trust. Aberdare’s range of halogen free flexible railway cables is suited to supply power to electric locomotives and rolling stock. A complete range of cable for rail infrastructure is also available. 181A Barbara Road, Elandsfontein, Gauteng. 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