Railways Africa Issue 1 2015

ROLLING STOCK | PERWAY | INFRASTRUCTURE | SIGNALLING | OPERATORS | COMMENT

ISSUE 1 // 2015

WWW.RAILWAYSAFRICA.COM

KISS FOR A LADY FROM SPAIN

The latest on IRIS Training

See page 5

You do not have to be the biggest to be THE BEST...

Tel: +27 (041) 581 4400 Fax: +27 (041) 581 4474 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.sheltam.com127 Villiers Rd Walmer 6070 PO Box 15148 Emerald Hill 6011 Port Elizabeth South Africa

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The year may have barely got going but the railway newsmakers haven’t missed a trick. If it wasn’t new class 21E electrics from China landing at Durban for Transnet Freight Rail, it was Vossloh diesels for Prasa, coming off a ship from Spain in Cape Town.

New railways are being built everywhere. Ethiopia, Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria - to name but four - quickly spring to mind. Enterprising loco builders in South Africa are making their names exporting reliable, cost-effective motive power to customers across the continent. Angola’s lines running inland from the Atlantic, where literally nothing was running when we last looked, are back in business in a big way, courtesy of hard work (not to mention financial help) from China.

True, some countries are little further than the planning stage, but there’s no shortage of plans - some of them impressively ambitious - and I’m sure they’ll all get there in the end. meanwhile, Morrocco is well on the way to completing Africa’s first truly high-speed line. That’s going to be something to write home about.

To the layman, railway track with its robust looking steel, concrete and stone construction looks as though it should last forever. However, this is not the case. While railway track is indeed built to last,

the forces exerted by trains passing over it are also considerable. These forces combined with the effects of weather steadily degrade the quality of railway track. A vital part of any railway track is its ballast which provides the formation with a certain amount of flexibility. Over time, this ballast becomes fouled with fine material which robs it of its shock absorbing properties. In this edition, we bring you an article on ballast waste management of waste material, an essential part of track maintenance if railway tracks are going to have extended lives.

For contrast, we pose a question that could be answered, probably, only in Australia. How does one attract tourists from all over the world - tourists with good money to spend - to an old, lightly laid, shoestring line worked by a single elderly railcar, in the middle of nowhere? Bruno Martin rode the Gulflander in Queensland’s outback (page 19) and found it can be done. There are lessons to be learned here all right, though I’m not at all sure what they are.

You do not have to be the biggest to be THE BEST...

Tel: +27 (041) 581 4400 Fax: +27 (041) 581 4474 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.sheltam.com127 Villiers Rd Walmer 6070 PO Box 15148 Emerald Hill 6011 Port Elizabeth South Africa

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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 or Contributors can be held liable for any inaccuracies or damages that may arise.

3Issue 1 // 2015 Railways Africa www.railwaysafrica.com

BARBARA SHEATPublisher / Railways Africa

PUBLISHERBarbara Sheat

EDITOR Rollo Dickson

DESIGN & LAYOUTDean McTavishSedibelo Phetoe

WEBSITEDean McTavish

ADVERTISINGOphelia Naidoo

SUBSCRIPTIONS Ophelia Naidoo

CONTRIBUTORSJohn BatwellBruno MartinJacque WepenerGeoff CookePierre de WetNathan BerelowitzDietmar FiedelCharles Baker

ISSN 1029 - 2756

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

v


ISSUE 1 // 2015


KISS FOR A LADY FROM SPAIN

The latest on IRIS Training

See page 5

New loco for Prasa is craned ashore.Photo: Paul Ash

Building at Grindrod Locomotives: five GL 30 type units for lease to Camrail, Cameroon. Photo: John Batwell

Contents

LOCOS fOR AfRICA fEATURE

Features

Funny signs on the Tube 30

End of the Line

4

LEAD STORY

Prototype 3,600hp loco under development by Grindrod Locomotives

6

SA built coaches for CFB 10

Revamped class 33 14

Motive power 14

Africa Update

Ballast waste management 16

Letter from Australia 19

TFR class 21E 22

Midwinter nightmare in New York 27

Third rail pierces coach 28

Mishaps

Spotlight South AfricaKiss for a lady from Spain 24

No compensation for Metrorail delays 25

Railways Africa Issue 1 // 2015

14

19

www.railwaysafrica.com

24

22

International Railway Industry Standard (IRIS)

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6 Railways Africa Issue 1 // 2015 www.railwaysafrica.com

LOCOS FOR AFRICA

LOCOS FOR AFRICASOUTH AFRICAN INDUSTRY LEADS THE WAYby John Batwell

The often heard accolade “South Africa is the powerhouse of the continent” is unmistakably evident in the railway industry. Impressive motive power supplied to other countries in Africa has enabled them to develop lucrative export opportunities, notably in bulk mining.

Sheltam, Grindrod Locomotives, African Rail & Traction Services (AR&TS) and Transnet Engineering (TE) are prominent companies playing an important role.

Sheltam Sheltam, headquartered in Port Elizabeth, was the brainchild of go-getter Roy Puffett. A service engineer at General Motors when it closed its locomotive manufacturing division in the late 1980s, he embarked on a bold one-man enterprise with a second-hand tool box and caravan, taking himself off to service and maintain diesel locomotives on privately owned industrial railways.

The first major contract was at Douglas Colliery in Mpumalanga. Out of this embryonic endeavour grew Sheltam, a name inspired by Roy’s two young daughters - Shelley and Tamaryn.

From servicing locomotives, Sheltam progressed to owning units and leasing them. The fleet today includes General Electric C30 locos, together with second-hand General Motors GL26MC representatives dating back to 1966, also 1958-built General Electric U12B veterans. Sheltam has provided motive power and crews in a number of Southern African and adjoining regional countries, such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as holding a number of contracts with industrial railways in South Africa. Sheltam assisted with the World Food Programme (WFP) in moving relief foodstuffs inland from Nacala in Mozambique in the course of flood relief.

For many years, Sheltam provided motive power for upmarket tour operator Rovos Rail, heading passenger excursions from South Africa through Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia to the Tanzanian coast at Dar es Salaam.

Sheltam - created by Roy Puffett in Port Elizabeth - is a major player in the private rail supplier industry. Photo: C van Wyk

Grindrod Locomotives’ Dash-3 series locos manufactured for use in Sierra Leone. Photo: A Meiring

CFM in Mozambique has been supplied with new General Electric type C30Aci diesel-electrics built in Transnet Engineering’s Koedoespoort (Pretoria) shops. Photo: CFM


LOCOS FOR AFRICA

A former Australian (Queensland Rail) General Electric diesel being repainted at the African Rail & Traction Services (AR&TS) workshops in Pretoria West. Photo: John Batwell

AR&TS refurbished diesels bound for Angola, awaiting loading in Durban. Photo: Charles Baker

GrindrodGrindrod Locomotives evolved rapidly following its founding in 2008. It operates from a large, well-equipped workshops complex at the former Iscor steelworks in Pretoria. Previously used by the erstwhile EMD-Sibanye joint venture, this has been turned into an imposing manufacturing base. Grindrod is teamed with National Railway Equipment (NRE) in the USA, the effect being that either principal can provide the same design of locomotive. NRE supplies reconditioned 16-645E3B/E3C engine and generator kits to the Pretoria shops. The first three “taper” frames, which form the basis of Grindrod’s Dash-3 model of diesel-electric motive power, were fabricated by NRE. In return, Grindrod has been supplying cab modules to NRE.

The 3,000hp Dash-3 models are operating successfully on railways owned by mining companies as far away as Sierra Leone and the Congo Republic. Orders closer to home include coal exporters out of the Moatize Basin in Mozambique and Swaziland’s national rail operator.

Comprehensively overhauled by Grindrod, second-hand electric and diesel motive power imported in recent months from Australia’s Queensland has been despatched to Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo – the national railway in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The growth in Grindrod Locomotives is reflected in the expansion of its Pretoria West factory space to 30,000m2, with the capability of producing 100 locomotives annually. The company claims to provide products between 30 and 50% cheaper than comparable units supplied by long-established manufacturers elsewhere.

The extensive exporting of coal on rail by various mining groups active in Mozambique has prompted Grindrod to expand its footprint there. Currently it is developing a $10 million locomotive maintenance and repair hub in the port city of Beira. An ambitious three-phase construction project taking shape on a 40,000m2 site should be complete by the end of 2016.

Like Sheltam, Grindrod holds stocks of second-hand diesel locomotives, sourced both in South Africa and Australia/New Zealand. Meticulously reconditioned, these are available for leasing locally and regionally. During 2014, the company launched

its own small 60-tonne, three-axle industrial locomotive, ideal for shunting and working on mine sites.

Developments in the recent past have seen Grindrod becoming the major shareholder in BBR - the Beitbridge-Bulawayo Railway - which has useful workshop facilities in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo. The company currently supplies motive power to Rovos Rail for cross-border rail safari activities.

AR&TSBarely 500 metres from the premises of Grindrod Locomotives, one finds the workshops of African Rail and Traction Services (AR&TS) - a sister company to Surtees Railway Supplies, based in Johannesburg, which has serviced the Southern African railway industry since 1950.

Like Grindrod and Sheltam, AR&TS supplies South African mines with varied sizes of second-hand power, holding contracts currently in both Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The AR&TS workshops recently undertook the refurbishing of General Electric locomotives at Angola’s Caminho de Ferro de Luanda (CFL) – the recently rehabilitated 424km single-track railway running from the Angolan capital Luanda inland to Malanje.


Transnet EngineeringTransnet Engineering (TE) is a subsidiary of multi-faceted South African parastatal Transnet SOC Limited, best known as parent to Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), the national railway. TE’s superbly-equipped workshops across the country maintain locomotives and rolling stock to the highest standards. Freight wagon manufacture has been an important activity over many decades, satisfying customers in the mining industry, both locally and in adjoining countries such as Mozambique. Specialised wagons have been built for Botswana Railways and passenger coaches have been strikingly rehabilitated and reworked for Zambia and elsewhere.

TE’s motive power plants at Koedoespoort (Pretoria) and Bloemfontein have been conspicuous in recent years for the renovating, adapting, modifying and assembling of locomotives for use in South Africa and neighbouring countries. Extensively overhauled General Electric U20C units have been supplied to Corredor de Desenvolvimento do Norte (CDN) in northern Mozambique, Central East African Railways (CEAR) in Malawi, the Matadi-Kinshasa line in the DRC and TransNamib in Namibia. The U20C locos first entered service as the class 33 in South Africa in the late 1960s, giving outstanding service for more than forty years. TransNamib, following poor experience with two types of Chinese-built locos, is to acquire more U20C units from TE, which also supplied two heavier ex-TFR Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) class 34 locos recently.

Transnet Engineering has supplied refurbished motive power to several countries in Africa, including Malawi. Photo: A Guelpa

In 2005, TE - known then as Transwerk - commenced rebuilding existing EMD type GT26CU-3 locomotives to a new classification as class 39-000. After successfully completing five, it was decided to switch the programme to building 50 entirely new 3,300hp units, using imported as well as locally produced components and incorporating features such as microprocessor control.

In conjunction with GE South African Technologies (Gesat) TE is currently building more than 200 new 3,300hp C30ACi diesel-electrics – GE’s latest state-of-the-art locomotive - for TFR as its class 43. Several have gone to Kumba Iron Ore in South Africa and ten to Caminhos de ferro do Moçambique (CFM – the state railway & harbours). Specifically designed and built for the 1,067mm gauge, the C30Aci is looking at potential customers all over West and Southern Africa, once track is adequately upgraded.

In addition to the foregoing, TE is to participate meaningfully in Transnet’s very large present locomotive building contracts signed with CNR, CSR, Bombardier and General electric. Most units are to be assembled at TE plants in South Africa.

One way and another, the South African rail industry is overtly displaying its mettle and expertise in making available quality rolling stock – and locos -for Africa.

LOCOS FOR AFRICA

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AFRICA UPDATE

ZenzaLuanda

Dondo Malanje

LobitoBenguela

Camacupa

Caaia KuitoHuamboCubal

Luena

NamibeLubango Dongo

Menongue

Chiange

Oshikango

Ondangwa

Tsumeb

Chamutete

(Cassinga)

Luau Dilolo

JimbeTo

Chingola

DRC

ATLANTIC

ZAMBIA

BOTSWANA

ANGOLA

NAMIBIA

Km300

ALGERIASIEMENS TO SUPPLY SIGNALSSiemens is to supply its Trainguard 100 ETCS Level 1 system, Vicos automatic operation control, and nine Simis W-type electronic interlockings, as well as GSM-R and RailCom Manager communications in the current upgrading of Algeria’s Beni Mansour-Bejaia line (90km) to double-track format. The contract includes the equipping of an operations control centre in Bejaia, together with training for local personnel.

ANGOLALUANDA RAILWAYCaminhos de ferro de Luanda (CFL) extends 424km from the Angolan capital to Malanje. Since its rehabilitation by Chinese contractors following the lengthy 20-year close-down after the civil war, the railway has concentrated mainly on passenger traffic. The government is keen to encourage use of the line for freight conveyance, an important consideration being the cost and risks associated with road transport. It welcomed the recent test movement of 10,000 12kg bottles of butane gas from Musseques station to Malanje, for the Sonagaz company. Sonagaz estimates it will be railing about 27,000 bottles per week, as the Luanda-Malanje corridor needs nearly 100,000 bottles each month. According to an official government statement, the test aims to contribute to the preservation of the national roadway and for a better environmental sustainability.

S A BUILT COACHES FOR CFBDominex - a manufacturing and exporting company based in Johannesburg, South Africa - recently delivered 10 refurbished passenger coaches and a power car to Angola’s Caminhos de ferro de Benguela (CFB). This 1,344km railway, reopened not long ago after complete rebuilding by a Chinese company, runs from Lobito on the Atlantic to Luau near the border with the Democratic of Congo (DRC).

Founded in 1988, Dominex specialises in manufacturing complete rail wagon parts – in compliance with international standards - as well as Infrastructure parts, fasteners, used class A steel sleepers and rails.

The coach refurbishing project, begun in March 2014, involved eight passenger coaches with compartments fitted for overnight sleeping, two combined dining and kitchen cars and one unit supplying power. The vehicles originally formed part of the South African intercity rail passenger fleet. Dominex specialists fitted dual braking systems (air and vacuum) and air conditioning. The company previously supplied refurbished coaches to Angola in 2011.

BOTSWANANOT WAITING FOR TRANS-KALAHARI LINE The long-running slump in global coal pricing (four consecutive years to date), with supply exceeding Far East demand, hasn’t deterred Botswana producers from getting on board with their own export drive. Chamber of Mines CEO Charles Siwawa believes the market has bottomed out and that this is the time to exploit opportunities. Understandably he does not want to wait for the proposed Trans-Kalahari railway into Namibia. Not yet started, its completion is obviously many years away. Annual railing capacity of some 20 million tons is available currently to Maputo in Mozambique and Richards Bay in South Africa. Siwawa wants to take immediate advantage of this.

• The governments of Namibia and Botswana are jointly involved in

developing the Trans-Kalahari railway project, the aim being a new

heavy-haul line of about 1,500km to the coast.

AfRICA UPDATE

EGYPTSIGNALS CONTRACT Existing electric & mechanical signalling along the 240km Asyut-Beni Suef line in Egypt is to be replaced by Alstom with electronic interlocking. The contract awarded by Egyptian National Railways (ENR), worth about 100 million, includes the provision of power supply, telecommunications, trackside equipment and maintenance for five years. Installation is expected to be complete by 2019. Financing by the World Bank is underwriting the project.

ETHIOPIALIGHT RAIL TEST RUNNING IN ADDIS ABABA Nine of the 41 light rail vehicles that will run on the new 34.2km system in Addis Ababa had arrived from China by December and a further ten were in the harbour at Djibouti. The city’s Consortium Organize Metro commenced trial operation in early February, in conjunction with the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) which built the $US475 million line. Some of the 250 Ethiopians who have undergone specialised training in China were to participate. Initial testing was scheduled to take place at the Kality depot, which is to be the operational headquarters of the north-south line. Rolling stock will be stabled here. Later, test running (without passengers) is to be extended to the rest of the line. Public service is expected to begin in May. The project including 39 stations was financed with a loan from China’s Exim Bank.

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Dire Dawa on the old Addis Ababa-Djibouti metre-gauge line.Photo: Dietmar Fiedel


AFRICA UPDATE

MOROCCOHIGH-SPEED TGV MAINTENANCE DEALOffice National des Chemins de fer (ONCF – the national railway of Morocco) is to set up a joint company in partnership with Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF - the French national railway). The new entity, owned 60% by ONCF, will be responsible for maintaining the TGV Duplex trainsets being supplied by Alstom for operation on Morocco’s high-speed line, currently under construction. A 15-year contract worth some 175 million has been signed with the new joint venture.

A separate 15-year, 90 million service contract between the new company and SNCF covers repairs, spare parts (including their transport to Morocco) and general technical assistance. It provides for the training of ONCF staff by SNCF which will in addition deploy about 20 staff members to Morocco.

In terms of a 400 million contract awarded in 2010, 14 TGV Duplex trainsets are being built and supplied by Alstom. They will be the first high-speed expresses to run in Africa.

The very successful high-speed French TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) has been running for 32 years. Seen at the Paris Gare de Lyon in 1982 is one of the very first in public service.

OVE ARUP IN ETHIOPIAThe Ove Arup consultancy in South Africa is preparing a master plan for urban development within 400 metres of ten “key stations” (out of 41 in all) on the new light rail system in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The firm has been assigned by the Ethiopian Railway Corporation to assess the development prospects, costs and other potential as part of reviving a city 125 years old, accommodating some three million people.

KENYARVR FREIGHT FIGURES GROWINGSteel – mainly roofing components – was the major reason for improved freight haulage figures at Rift Valley Railways (RVR), external affairs manager Cosma Gatere reported at the end of December. Six months previously, some 3,000 tonnes of steel were moved in a month, compared with 10,000 tonnes in November. Roofing contractors in Kenya and Uganda are the principal customers, Gatere says. The railway has additional rolling stock on order, specifically flatcars for container transport, and 350 tankcars are undergoing refurbishing. Additional locomotive power being acquired will double RVR’s haulage capacity to around 270,000 tonnes.

MALAWIREVAMPED CLASS 33 Transnet Engineering (TE) has carried out extensive rehabilitation on a number of General Electric U20C diesel-electric locomotives after their withdrawal from service on Transnet Freight Rail, where they were known as class 33. The units are being sold to 1,067mm gauge railways elsewhere in Southern Africa, recent examples being those in Namibia and Malawi. Both are enthusiastic buyers - class 33 locos have given outstanding service during more than forty years since their arrival new in South Africa in the nineteen-sixties.

TE’s professional revamp is to a high standard, ensuring many years’ further reliable service.

LIBERIA

ArcelorMittal Liberia, which is preparing for phase two of its operations, recently took delivery of six new General Electric (GE) locomotives from the United States. In advance of their arrival, a number of Liberians started training as drivers. Soon there will be 34 trained operators in total. Until now, loaded trains have been leaving the Tokadeh Mines in Yekepa, Nimba County, as well as the port of Buchanan, every two and half hours. Hauling trains of 140 wagons, the new locomotives will enable ArcelorMittal to meet the increased demands of phase two, when it is planned to ship 15 million tons of ore annually.

Major MTU order to CNRRolls-Royce has received a major order from Chinese locomotive manufacturer CNR Dalian (CNR) and its local South African Consortium (CNRRSSA) for the delivery of 232 Series 4000 MTU engines. The MTU brand is part of Rolls-Royce Power Systems within its Land & Sea division. The engines are to be installed in new freight locomotives ordered by Transnet Freight Rail, which is modernizing its fleet of freight locomotives, the contract value being in the range of 100m.

ROLLS-ROYCE MTU ENGINES TO POWER TRANSNET’S CHINESE LOCOS

A 20V 4000 R63L engine has an output of 3,300 kilowatts and, as an uprated variant of the Series 4000 R43/R53 engine, is the most powerful MTU locomotive power unit. Delivery to CNR will start in 2015, the final engine being delivered in 2017. The first 20 engines will be produced in Friedrichshafen and delivered directly to CNR. The remaining engines will be delivered to subsidiary MTU South Africa for final assembly, testing and preparation. MTU South Africa is planning additional assembly capacity to carry out this extra activity. The order for the 232 MTU engines is part of one of the largest infrastructure upgrades in South Africa’s history.

13


Malawi-Nacala line: GE diesel-electric for Sociedade Corredor Logístico Integrado de Nacala (SCLIN), a joint venture between Brazil’s Vale (80%) and Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM - Mozambican Railways and Ports). Photo: BBC Chartering.

NAMIBIAMOTIVE POWERUntil mid-January, according to acting CEO Hippy Tjivikua, TransNamib’s serviceable locomotives totalled a mere 21. Though several decades old, the shortage of motive power means they are often needed 24 hours every day. The railway has only eight skilled technical employees but they have to be conversant with six different types of engine and the fact that there are so many complicates matters such as the keeping of spares. Non-standardisation is a challenge, he told the press recently and his aim is to standardise the fleet.

This is to be augmented during 2015 by the addition of ten units refurbished by Transnet Engineering (TE) at a cost exceeding N$71 million. Five of these arrived in Namibia in mid-January. Minister of works and transport Erkki Nghimtina welcomed them at a function in Windhoek. Conflicting reports included suggestions that the units are new.

THE ACTUAL SITUATION IS AS FOLLOWS:Three of the locos are General Electric type U20C. They have been rehabilitated by TE, being class 33 diesel-electrics originally placed in service in South Africa in the late nineteen-sixties. They are to be used on lines south of Tsumeb laid with 30kg/m rails.

The remaining two units are more powerful EMD (ElectroMotive-diesel) locomotives, originally taken into service by the South African Railways as class 34. They will be used on the new route from Tsumeb, running north to Oshikati, which is laid with heavier (45kg/m) rails. The contract includes bridging finance of about N$200 million. GE locomotives in TransNamib’s existing fleet are to be refurbished in Windhoek with support from Transnet.

Referring to the Chinese locos acquired by Namibia, Tjivikua explains that the first four were unsuited to the country and gave endless trouble. They were auctioned off recently, literally for their scrap value. Of the 17 locos acquired from a different Chinese manufacturer in 2007, only two are still in use.

MOZAMBIQUEMITSUI STAKE IN COAL RAILWAYS Japanese trading firm Mitsui & Co has made an initial investment of $US763 million towards purchasing 35% of Mozambique’s Nacala rail and port project and 14% of the Moatize coal mine from Brazil’s Vale SA. The deals are subject to approval by the Mozambique government. Mitsui is clearly looking ahead of the current global slump in coal prices. Taking advantage of the fact that this is obviously “the time to buy”, it has noted that a number of investors who have been running at a loss are keen to sell their stakes.

Early TGV first-class interior

Gare de Lyon concourse. Photos: editor.

AFRICA UPDATE

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Railway Infrastructure Maintenance Management

Locomotive Systems, Performance and Maintenance

Dates

26 - 30 January 2015

17 - 19 February 2015

16 - 18 March 2015

21 - 23 April 2015

18 -22 May 2015

08 - 12 June 2015

29 June - 03 July 2015

21 - 23 July 2015

18 - 20 August 2015

14 - 18 September 2015

13 - 16 October 2015

02 - 06 November 2015

23 - 27 November 2015

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More about the presenter:Prof Hannes Gräbe

The chair holder is Prof Hannes Gräbe, a civil engineer with 20 years’ experience in track technology, track geotechnology, advanced laboratory testing, field investigations, maintenance models and numerical analysis of track structures.

After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Pretoria in 1994, Prof Gräbe joined Transnet freight rail’s Track Technology Centre, Johannesburg. He studied abroad from 1999 to 2002 and obtained a PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Southampton (UK). This research was focused on the design life prediction of railway foundations under heavy axle loading. Prof Gräbe is a registered professional engineer and Fellow of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE). He is currently an associate professor in the department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria responsible for under- and post-graduate training, track research and rail short courses for industry.


FEATURE: BALLAST

BALLAST WASTE MANAGEMENT

Figure 1: 20% Fouling

Figure 2: 120% Fouling

Figure 3: Typical Ballast Bed Profile

Ballast waste management in the context of this article refers to ballast cleaning, recycling of reusable ballast and the management of the waste material spoiled by the ballast cleaning process.

Before looking at the management of ballast waste, it is essential to understand the requirements and design characteristics of the ballast stone and the ballast bed geometric profile to know what ballast waste is.

Good ballast material is considered to be stones which are angular, broadly graded, abrasion and wear resistant and free of fine material.

This good ballast material is specified by the Transnet specification for the supply of stone contents S406. This specification prescribes how new ballast material should be selected and graded at the quarry according to its shape, size and composition. In short, ballast can be defined in a minimum and maximum stone size being between 19 and 63mm on general freight and passenger lines and

26 and 75mm on heavy haul lines. Ballast material smaller than the minimum is referred to as ‘fines’ or ‘fine material’ and can be expressed as a percentage fouling being the percentage of fine material in the ballast bed.

Over time the volume of the fine material in the ballast bed will increase (Figure 1 and Figure 2 illustrates the difference).

This stems mostly from the degradation and abrasion of ballast stones within the ballast bed due to various reasons such as high dynamic loads from passing trains caused by flat spots on train wheels, rail surface irregularities etc. Other fine material can also be washed in during heavy rains, wind blown into the ballast bed or dropped from wagons for example coal dust. The fine material in the ballast makes the ballast bed very hard resulting in damage to other track material and also retains moisture, eventually resulting in formation failure. It also becomes difficult to correct and maintain geometry because tamping tines are not able to penetrate and tamp the ballast effectively. The fine material must therefore be removed from the ballast bed and disposed of and is therefore considered spoil or waste material.

To fulfil its function, the ballast bed must also conform to a minimum geometric specification as illustrated by Figure 3. The ballast shoulder and ballast in the cribs provide the track’s resistance to lateral and longitudinal displacement, especially on gradients, curves and continuous welded rail. The ballast depth dissipates the loading from trains to acceptable stresses for the underlying formation.

Over time the track geometry will deteriorate from the required standard which is not only a major contributor to ballast degradation but also has many other unwanted and even dangerous consequences. During periodic ballast tamping to correct geometry the track is systematically lifted out of the ballast bed which requires ballast replenishment to ensure that the ballast cribs remain full and the ballast bed shoulders comply with standards.

Systematic maintenance-lifting, tamping and ballast replenishment results in accumulation of large ballast volumes over time. Typically, volumes of 2,400 m3 per kilometre must be screened on the heavy haul lines at approximate cycles of 15 to 20 years. The increasing ballast bed volume will eventually cause clearance problems with the overhead traction equipment (OHTE), bridges and tunnels.

To ensure that the ballast bed performs to requirements, the ballast must be screened to remove the fine material before it causes consequential damage to the rest of the track material and, at the same time, it will also be necessary to reduce the ballast volume back to design specification to correct structure clearances and drainage.

Ballast screening is normally carried out with ballast cleaning machines. If the track must be lowered at the same time, it is


FEATURE: BALLAST

Figure 4: A Level Formation Visible Behind the Cutter Bar

Figure 5: Ballast Cleaning Machine Spoiling to the Side

Figure 6: Other Problems with Spoiling to the Side

essential to use ballast cleaning machines that are equipped to lower the track as part of the process.

The ballast cleaning machine consists of a cutterbar underneath the track which guides an endless excavating chain that loosens the encrusted ballast and transports it to a screen box. The cutting depth and cross fall of the formation is electronically controlled and reinstated.

The vibrating screen box is fitted with screens of different mesh sizes. The screens will separate the fine material from the reusable ballast stones.

The reusable ballast, i.e. ballast stone larger than the minimum is returned to the track and has therefore been recycled.

Some machines are able to position and/or lower the track in a controlled manner while the screened ballast is returned to the track. This is an essential requirement in cases where track lowering is required. In such cases, a lot of ballast will be available for re-use.

The fine material that was separated from the reusable ballast during the screening process is unwanted material with no further use, i.e. waste as defined by the National Environmental Management: Waste Act of 2010.

The waste material has contaminants, mostly in excess of allowable limits set by regulatory standards and guidelines. It contains toxic herbicides for weed control, contaminating material falling or leaking from moving wagons, oils and fuels spilled by locomotives etc.

In the past the waste material was deposited next to track and is still visible all along railway lines in South Africa today. Continuing this practice without a management plan would be in contravention of the Act.

(As depicted in Figure 6), contamination is not the only problem when discharging spoilt material alongside the track. In scenario 1 where the track is on a high bank, the spoil will lie on the side of the bank and the weight of the spoil material can actually cause the bank to slip.

The same applies to cuttings in scenario two but here the slippage or flow of the waste material can flow into the drains creating very serious drainage problems. On multiple lines (scenario 3), there is no place to spoil the material. Past practices to spoil alongside the outside tracks have also created major drainage problems.

In 2001 Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) implemented conveying systems which are integrated with the ballast cleaning machine to efficiently remove the spoiled waste material to environmentally prepared spoil sites. The system had to match the spoil production rate of even the highest production ballast cleaning machine without ever prematurely stopping the ballast cleaning process.

At the disposal site the ballast waste can now either be discharged onto road or rail vehicles, stockpiled for re-use in other applications or can be levelled. Recycling options for the waste can range from filling up of service roads, backfilling material at washaways, stabilising of cuttings and banks etc.

There is only one known process where the ballast together with the waste therein can be recycled in the track and that is during mechanised formation rehabilitation using a machine such as the Plasser & Theurer AHM 800 Formation Rehabilitation Machine. This production line type of machine crushes the excavated ballast bed and mixes it with additional graded backfill material which is then returned to the track to create a new stabilised and compacted formation. There is currently no such machine on the African continent or on the 1,067mm gauge. This process is not ballast cleaning but is specifically designed for formation rehabilitation.


Figure 7: Ballast Cleaning Machine Spoiling Into Spoil Conveyor Systems

Figure 8: Wagon Contents are Disposed by Slewing the Transfer Conveyor Belt to the Side or onto Road or Other Rail Wagons

FEATURE: BALLAST

Ultimately, the best form of ballast management is to extend its life for as long as possible. Factors that influence the rate of degradation of ballast not related to the stone itself are the load that is applied to it and the amount of movement within the ballast bed.

The ballast is more than capable of sustaining the normal load from passing trains if the track geometry is within required standards. To maintain the geometry means regular maintenance tamping to keep the vertical and horizontal alignment within standards.

However, the tamping process also contributes to ballast breaking and must be limited by using machines that produce optimum quality and durability. Realising this, TFR contracted dynamic

REFERENCESF J Pretorius: The State of the Art of Ballast Fouling and Screening Maintenance Systems:• Section A - Technical Report on the Concept of

Ballast Fouling (Jan 1993)• Section B - Manual on Practical Evaluation

Techniques for Measuring and Classifying• In-Track Ballast Layer Conditions (Feb 1993)• Section C - Screening Maintenance Systems (May 1993)

ballast stabilising machines to be integrated with ballast tamping, increasing the durability of the geometry by approximately 30% and subsequently increasing the required tamping cycle by the same.


BRUNO MARTIN RIDES THEGULFLANDER

Railmotor RM93 of 1953 (26 seats) and trailer TP1809 (39), a year older, at Normanton’s heritage-listed station.

LETTER FROM AUSTRALIA

Isolated from the rest of Queensland Rail (QR) – and Australia - the Gulflander is the lone survivor of several isolated pioneer railways built in the late 19th century to open up this vast and sparsely populated state to European settlement. QR operates the line as a service to the community - and tourism. For close to 100 years, it was often the sole means of transport between the historic outback towns of Normanton and Croydon in tropical North Queensland during the annual monsoonal “wet season” (November to April usually), until the tar road was completed from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Reaching Croydon, some 550km west of the city of Cairns, involves an eight-hour drive. Despite its out-of-the-way location, the heritage-listed railway is a popular tourist attraction in the remote frontier “Gulf Country”. Thousands of visitors flock in during the dry and mild winter months - not just from Australia but from all over the world - to ride on this relic of a bygone age.

THE SCHEDULEAffectionately known as “The old Tin Hare going from nowhere to nowhere”, the Gulflander departs Normanton every Wednesday at 08:30, arriving at Croydon at 13:30. The return journey leaves at 08:30 on Thursdays, getting back to Normanton at 14:00. On other days from May to September, short trips are run from Normanton to Critters Camp where there is a “turning angle” (triangle) to turn the train around.

The 152km line opened in three stages between 1889 and 1891. Originally it was planned to connect the port on the Norman River estuary with copper mines at Cloncurry, about 370km to the south. Following the discovery of gold on Belmore station, 143km east of Normanton, the railway - instead of heading south - was diverted to the newly proclaimed Croydon goldfield.

CONSTRUCTIONGeorge Phillips, under contract for the Queensland Government Railways (QGR) as engineer and inspecting surveyor, was in charge of construction. The rails were laid directly on the ground, with earthworks at the absolute minimum. Considering the terrain’s reputation as “some of the most flooded and rotten country in Australia” the task was fairly straightforward with no major engineering features.

Phillips designed and patented steel sleepers shaped like an inverted “U” which allowed the hollow under each to be packed with soil, firmly embedding the permanent way into the ground. Clips holding the 20.5kg/m rails to the base plate were riveted to the outside and bolted on the inside for greater stability.

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Flight deck of RM93. Note gear lever and clutch beside the 102hp Gardner diesel engine – and the GPS unit.

On display at Normanton: B13 class 4-6-0 no.161 Big Ben (Kitson & co, 1885).


Passengers in RM93 bump along over the rail joints at 40km/h. Croydon’s all-steel station building, opened in 2006.

This ensured they would not move or work loose as when nailed to timber sleepers with dog spikes. A coating of pitch prevented corrosion in the harsh tropical climate.

More significantly, the flood-prone trackbed was rendered “submersible” during the wet season, leaving the line intact when the water subsided.

NORMANTON STATIONNormanton station, intended as the terminus for an ambitious transcontinental railway across western Queensland, is described as a “blend of Victorian urban and Australian outback architectural styles”. The “grandiose” building was constructed with corrugated iron sheets fixed to a timber frame and in its heyday had offices for station master, traffic manager, clerks, telegraph and booking, as well as waiting room, parcels and cloakroom, and a ladies’ room with earth closets. Other than a coat of paint and improved toilet facilities, little has changed over the years. Some offices are used now for displaying railway memorabilia; others serve as a coffee and souvenir shop.

Extending from the south side of the building, the iconic trainshed comprises an arched galvanised iron roof supported by decorated cast-iron columns which protects the platform

and three tracks from the blazing sun and torrential rain. The station yard is a repository for the remains of motive power and rolling stock accumulated since the railway was opened. A 1931-built railmotor (no 60), stored in the workshop, is used on short excursions and charters. DL4, a 2-6-0 diesel-mechanical locomotive, is used for maintenance work or replacing a railmotor in for service. The consist for the weekly trip to Croydon is usually a railmotor and trailer, with a flat wagon occasionally attached for freight.

THE RAILMOTORSRailmotor RM93, last of her class, worked on the southern and northern divisions of QR since new in 1953 and served as the general manager’s inspection car prior to coming to Normanton. Here it has been the mainstay motive power since 1982. Trailer TP1809 is a modified 1800 class railmotor dating from 1952, originally part of a four-car railmotor trainset.

The first railmotor arrived in 1922, but steam traction survived until a larger railmotor came in 1929.

Little has changed since the line opened in 1891. Most of the original rails and steel sleepers are still in place, except on the termite-free saline flats along the Norman River where the steel sleepers corroded rapidly and were replaced with timber.

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BRUNO’S JOURNEYOn 11 September 2013 at 8:30 on the dot, RM93’s 102hp Gardner diesel engine roared into life and the Gulflander announced its departure with long blasts from the horn. The driver, Ken, is also station master, accountant, public relations officer, mechanic and supervisor at both Normanton and Croydon.

Easing out of the station, we trundled over the main road into Normanton and remained in low gear up a short uphill stretch with Ken keeping an eye on the GPS unit monitoring the train’s progress.

The only bridge of any significance, crossing the Norman River - 33 six-metre steel spans on concrete piers – replaced the original timber structure in 1902. In his running commentary, Ken pointed out markers on a pole pegging water levels during successive floods. The 1974 peg at the top marked a height of four metres.

Soon Critters Camp was passed - named by the early fettlers after the myriad snakes, scorpions and insects sharing their accommodation. The train - the last on QR still carrying mail - stopped briefly at an elaborate “letter box” alongside the line at Hayden East. The guard briefly assumes the role of Australia Post’s “postie”, delivering mail destined for an outlying cattle station.

We stopped for 50 minutes at Blackbull - named according to Ken after a rogue animal that once roamed the area - 91km from Normanton. Morning tea/coffee and muffins (baked by Ken’s wife) were enjoyed at the sheltered picnic area.

Some 8km from Croydon we passed the Golden Gate goldfield - site of a bustling town in 1895, but now reduced to heaps of rubble between the trees.

At 1:66 True Blue Hill - shortly before reaching Croydon - is the steepest climb on the line. Croydon today has a population of 300 and one hotel. There were 26 at the height of the gold rush in 1897, when it was the fourth most populous place in Queensland. By the 1920s however, the gold and copper mined in the area had petered out. The original station building was blown down by a cyclone in 1969. It was rebuilt from salvaged parts but collapsed from storm and termite damage in 2003. Its 2006 architect-designed, all-steel replacement is said to be “evocative of the original 1891 structure”. As in Normanton, the rusting remains of old rolling stock have found a final resting place in the station grounds.

Despite running at a financial loss for most of its life, the railway has soldiered on to provide an essential service to remote communities. Following improvements to the main road in the 1980s, only small freight consignments have been carried by rail.

Increasingly popular with tourists, the relaxed and friendly hospitality of Outback Australia makes the journey aboard the Gulflander a truly unique experience.

REFERENCES:1. KERR, J D, Triumph of narrow gauge, Booralong Publications, 1998.

2. KNOWLES, J W, Lonely rails in the Gulf country, Australian Narrow

Gauge Railway Museum Society, 1993.

3. McKILLOP, R, Australian railway heritage guide, 2010 edition,

Australian Railway Historical Society, New South Wales Division, 2010.

4. Normanton-Croydon Railway, Brochure issued by Queensland Rail.


TFR CLASS 21E

The four-axle 21E is capable of an output of 3,000kW (4,023hp) and speed of 100 km/h. A microcomputer network control system allows eight locomotives to work together in a multi-unit consist or in multiple with diesel-electric locomotives.

The only externally visible difference between the classes 20E and 21E is on the pilots and the left side of the cab roof. The 21E has a small rectangular grille near the rear end of the left side of the cab roof and above the large grilled hatch door to the right of the cab door on the left side. This small grille is absent on the 20E.

There are two cable sockets on each side of the coupler on the 20E and a fifth socket in a cut-out on the sill, below the front door on the front pilot and in the same position on the rear pilot, near the right end of the sill. The class 21E has no cut-out in the sill and instead of two pairs of cable sockets, it has a rectangular box on each side of the coupler. These are radio frequency distributed power (RFDP) connections, located behind the cowcatchers on the class 20E.

The locomotive body is a welded monocoque design, constructed of steel plates and profiled members, with a compressive strength of 4.45 meganewtons and a tensile strength of four meganewtons. The class 21E has a single cab and a gangway along the centre of the locomotive. It is equipped with a wireless data transmission system which can send operational status, as well as fault and energy consumption data, via GSM and Wi-Fi to a trackside station for analysis. It is equipped with an axle temperature alarm device,

TRANSNET FREIGHT RAIL CLASS 21EThe first class 21E dual-voltage (3kV DC and 25kV) electric locomotive for Transnet Freight Rail was completed at the CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive works in China on 16 September 2014. Forty of the order for 100 units are to be built there. The rest will be assembled in South Africa.

The first two class 21E locomotives were delivered for acceptance trials on 11 December 2014. They came ashore at Maydon Wharf in Durban and were moved dead in tow to Pyramid South north of Pretoria the following day. Loco 21-002 was equipped with load-measuring-wheelsets, painted yellow, on its front bogie.

According to the project plan, Transnet’s agreement with CSR includes the joint production of more electric locomotives, electric multiple units, suburban rail vehicles and rail transport equipment for South Africa and the African region.

The class 21E is virtually identical in visual appearance to the earlier class 20E. The new loco is in essence an upgraded version of the 20E, based on customer requirements. It is heavier, with the axle load increased to 26,000kg, providing improved tractive effort for service on the heavy-haul coal line to Richards Bay.

For optimum safety, reliability and braking response time, train air braking is effected using advanced, electronically-controlled pneumatic (ECP) brake system technology. Electro-pneumatic, regenerative & rheostatic braking is fitted to the locomotive.

Class 21E locos under tow to Pyramid South, Pretoria, in December 2014. Photos: Charles Baker


fire alarm system, closed-circuit television (cctv), wheel flange lubricating device and, as a personnel safety measure, high voltage protective interlocking. The AC traction motors are powered through insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) control.

As on the dual-voltage classes 19E and 20E, the main electric circuit is automatically selected in either AC or DC mode, determined by the voltage in the overhead contact wire. To facilitate automatic trouble-free transition on the run, the locomotive is equipped with on-board voltage detectors, while the overhead wire is equipped with two wooden isolators and a three-metre length of neutral wire to separate the AC and DC feeds. The neutral section is connected to the rails, which serve as the return conductor on electrified lines.

The transition process requires that the locomotive be switched off automatically before it reaches the isolators and the unpowered overhead wire section, then automatically restarted after exiting from under the unpowered wire. Activation is by a pair of track magnets, one on either side of the neutral overhead wire and spaced 45 metres apart. The two magnets are mounted with their polarities reversed in relation to each other and they activate a magnetic relay, located behind the cowcatcher of the locomotive.

As with the classes 19E and 20E, the 21E will be able to work all the way from the coal mines to Richards Bay, avoiding the need to change locomotives at Ermelo because of different supply voltages.

• With acknowledgement to Col Andre Kritzinger and Wikipedia.

SPOTLIGHT SOUTH AFRICA


SPOTLIGHTSOUTH AFRICA

TRANSNET BOARD CHANGESThe South African cabinet recently announced significant changes in membership of the Transnet Board, now chaired by Linda Carol Mabaso. New incumbents are Stanley Shane, Mogokare Seleke, Dr Gideon Mahlalela, Potso Mathekga, Zainul Nagdee, Vusi Nkonyane, Peter Williams and Brett Stagman. Yasmin Forbes and Nazmeera Moola were reappointed, but Ellen Tshabalala was not.

KISS FOR A LADY FROM SPAINOn 17 January, in the harbour at Cape Town, four more diesel locomotives for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) were craned off the ship which brought them from Spain. Very dramatically, transport minister Dipuo Peters walked across to unit 4002 and planted a kiss. She was accompanied by Dr Popo Molefe, who chairs Prasa, group CEO Lucky Montana and Western Cape provincial transport MEC Donald Grant.

Addressing VIPs and journalists, the minister said the new locos will go a long way towards providing comfortable travel, reliability, improved efficiency and reduced journey time. Following comprehensive testing, the new locomotives are to enter service from April. This will help government in its drive to move people away from carnage on the roads and onto rail.

This is very exciting, the minister said: “We will be able to reduce the number of people who actually die.”

Referring to high levels of frustration caused by slow trains and overcrowding, with passengers losing faith in rail as a mode of choice, minister Peters promised: “What we see today will immediately see the reduction of travel time on our long-distance services”.

In addition to the five new Vossloh diesels now in the country, a further 15 are to arrive within the next few months. The R3.5 billion order includes 50 “Euro-Dual” electro-diesel units. These will be able to draw traction current from 3kV DC overhead wires and continue onto sections not wired at this voltage, using diesel power. Unfortunately they will not be able to draw traction current from 25kV AC catenary, which means they will run on diesel oil between Beaufort West and Kimberley, as well as on lines to East London, Port Elizabeth and Polokwane.

Lady from Spain: one of Prasa’s new Vossloh locomotives.

The 13 January Cape Times caption read: A new diesel locomotive, which was unveiled in the city yesterday, leaves Cape Town station.” The photo - of a windowless generator van – probably confused the photographer with its businesslike noises.

MINISTER EMPHASISES SKILLS SHORTAGESpeaking at the arrival of Prasa’s newest locomotives from Spain, South African transport minister Dipuo Peters said skills shortage is a huge problem in the country, with a worrying shortfall in civil and electrical engineers. Estimates, she said, put the need for engineers to be trained over the coming ten years at 19,000.

Transport minister Dipuo Peters.

LOCO FROM SPAIN HEADS STELLENBOSCH SPECIALSouth Africa’s minister of transport Dipuo Peters went for a train ride on Monday 12 January. The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) deployed its shiny new Spanish diesel locomotive 4001 on a Premier Classe special from Cape Town to Stellenbosch. The minister was accompanied by members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on transport, Prasa board chairman Dr Popo Molefe, and group CEO Lucky Montana.

The minister had much to say about South African trains, which she thinks are much too slow – taking (for instance) 25 hours from Cape Town to Johannesburg “in this day and age”. One should consider this as a “key priority” she suggested, urging Prasa to do feasibility studies on the introduction of high-speed services along this route, as well as others.

Local press reports commented on commuters waiting at stations along the route of the special to Stellenbosch, where suburban services have been “plagued” by breakdowns and lengthy delays. At Cape Town’s main station, it was pointed out, trains were delayed as much as 40 minutes on the first day most commuters returned to work after the festive season. The Department of Transport (of which Prasa is a subsidiary) is aware of the problems in the Western Cape, Peters said, and is dealing with the situation. Montana blamed it on cable theft and 30 years’ under-investment and conceded commuters from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha are among the worst affected. He said Prasa is spending R7 billion on improved signalling – R2.6bn in the Western Cape.


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Metrorail commuters in Cape Town have faced long delays in recent months

NO COMPENSATION FOR METRORAIL DELAYSWestern Cape Cosatu leader Tony Ehrenreich says Metrorail should compensate commuters stranded by late trains. Delays running into hours have affected all local lines many times in recent months.

Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) CEO Lucky Montana responded less than enthusiastically, pointing out that the promise of compensation would encourage criminals to steal.

• There is precedent, of course. In the UK, the National rail conditions

of carriage require operators to compensate passengers for lengthy

delays, though not if these are caused by weather or vandalism.

Class 18E locos on a recent test run at Brandfort north of Bloemfontein.

5M2A Metrorail set P-1 on 7-hour, empty coaches test-run from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein, 17 December 2014. Seen here at Hennenman station. (Low-level platforms. Bring your own ladder.)

Melorane was for many years the terminus of commuter services running east from Bloemfontein. Today only the signboard remains.

Tankcar (which conveyed anhydrous ammonia for the Omnia fertiliser plant at Wesselsbron) brings up the rear of the branch pick-up, on its return journey to Whites and then Kroonstad.

Environment-friendly ballast at Theron (108km north of Bloemfontein on the main-line).

fREE STATE ROUND-UPRecent photos by Jacque Wepener.


SPOTLIGHT SOUTH AFRICA

MISHAPS

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

MIDWINTER NIGHTMARE IN NEW YORKThe wife of a former South African - journalist Alan Brody, originally from Durban - was killed on 3 February in the worst rail-related accident in the New York city area in decades and the worst ever on the Metro-North commuter railroad, second busiest in North America. Ellen Brody, 49, mother of three daughters, two still teenagers, was driving home through the snow on Commerce Street, a road unfamiliar to her, at Valhalla - about 32km north of Manhattan - shortly before 18:30. Traffic had been diverted due to an accident on the Taconic State Parkway. A short distance before Commerce Street rejoins the highway, it crosses Metro-North’s busy Harlem commuter line.

According to the motorist driving behind Brody, the barrier at the crossing came down on the rear of her Mercedes SUV. As this is activated several seconds after the warning red lights begin flashing – and as these start 39 seconds before a train reaches the crossing – either she did not see the lights or she disregarded them.

She would previously have passed the crossing advance warning sign – a black diagonal cross on reflective yellow ground that must have been picked up in her headlights.

The witness said Brody got out of her car, inspected the gate, then got back in. He said he backed up his own car to give her room and signalled her to reverse. Instead, inexplicably, she drove forward (more than a car’s length) onto the line. The second set of red lights was flashing immediately ahead of her, on the further side of the double track.

The driver of an eight-coach electric multiple-unit which left New York’s Grand Central at 17:44 had already sounded his horn when he spotted the car. He applied emergency braking and gave another four-second horn blast. The train’s speed came down from 93km/h to 79 when it reached the crossing, at which point it picked up the Mercedes, carrying it 290 metres before coming to a stop. Brody was probably killed on impact.

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THIRD RAIL PIERCES COACHSomething snagged the third rail beside the track, ripping up a number of 12-metre sections. Several penetrated into the first coach, and one into the second. A powerful explosion followed (possibly a spark from the live rail igniting the Mercedes fuel tank), putting the first coach ablaze with flames and smoke. It was completely burned out.

Five people on the train died in the inferno, and 15 were reported injured, seven critically. The train driver survived. Though injured, he helped at least one passenger leave the burning first coach. Some 400 people in the train were disembarked through the last coach and moved away in buses.

The Metro-North Railroad acted quickly to shift the wreckage and repair the track. Trains were running normally by the morning of 5 February.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) established that the crossing warning apparatus functioned correctly, noting that the duplicate sets of flashing red signals were fitted with extra-bright LED lights. These are interlinked with the traffic lights where Commerce Road meets the parkway, to prevent motorists being trapped in the approach. Standard level crossing insignia are painted on the roadway and the advance road traffic warning sign was in position. Prior to the brake application, the train’s recorder indicated that it was travelling at less than the authorised maximum speed of 96 km/h.

CP MAIN-LINE DERAILMENT AT BANffOn 26 December, 15 wagons in a Canadian Pacific freight train derailed on a bridge crossing 40 Mile Creek near the town of Banff in the National Park. Seven vehicles fell into the water, spilling grain and fly ash, a component used in the manufacture of concrete. Workers dammed the creek to prevent contaminants reaching the Bow River, 200 metres downstream. Spilled grain is said to pose a problem in summer as it attracts bears. Currently however the bears are fast asleep, hibernating.

• CP Rail fired the train’s 25-year-old conductor who had only worked

one previous trip and was still on probation after five months’

training. She has asked the union to protest unfair dismissal.

MISHAPS


THE fUGITIVE COMES TO LIfERemember the 1993 film The Fugitive? Harrison Ford plays a doctor wrongfully convicted of his wife’s murder. In the movie a bus carrying prison inmates plunges down high ground off the highway onto a rail track and is hit by a train: the sort of dramatic, imaginative stuff that only happens in fiction. Or does it?

On Wednesday 14 January 2015, a bus carrying prison inmates skidded on an icy highway in West Texas, plunged some distance down onto a rail line and collided with a four-locomotive, 58-wagon Union Pacific freight. Nobody on the train was hurt but eight prisoners and two officials (one the driver) died in the crash. Three hospital casualties labelled critical included one officer, and two other prisoners were said to be seriously hurt. According to press reports, the men were handcuffed in pairs; there were no seat belts.

Tommy Lee Jones earned an Oscar for his role in the movie. The accident scenes were shot in rural North Carolina.

Photos: NTSB

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For small to medium businesses, access to capital is a perennial problem. To address this issue, on December 1, 2014, the East Rand rail engineering company, Compressor and Engineering, sold 51% of its shareholding to Sebvest Holdings.

Sebvest, an investment company, focuses on using its substantial capital to grow businesses, in so doing, creating wealth for its

shareholders. The advantage for Compressor and Engine – now Sebvest Engineering – will be that the transaction will provide it with access to finance on attractive terms.

“Basically, we didn’t have the size to achieve the scale of growth that we want,” says the MD of Sebvest Engineering, Gavin Acar. “With Sebvest Holdings and its access to capital, we can now give our company the growth that it deserves,” he adds.

For Sebvest Engineering’s customers, this will bring significant advantages. Until now, C&E has been producing spare parts for compressors for locomotives, but not for the industrial compressor field. Now with the support of Sebvest Holdings, the engineering company will be able to broaden its range of services.

“We are currently setting up to manufacture components for the Wabtec 60D4DCs, where we will be manufacturing from the crankcase upwards. Having Sebvest supporting us gives us the capital to secure some of the patents required. And it gives us access to emergency funding, if needed,” says Acar.

Currently Sebvest Engineering is the only company in South Africa that is manufacturing complete compressors and exhausters for the rail industry. With this merger it is planned to increase this ability and cater for the diesel locomotive market in addition to that for electric locos.

In line with the government’s of policies of BEE integration, Sebvest Engineering is pleased to be part of the drive to engender a more representative and robust economy in South Africa.“Our major prospects for growth are most exciting,” Acar concludes.

SEBVEST ENGINEERING GROWTH AHEAD

SEBvEST ENGINEERING

Gavin Acar


END OF THE LINE

FUNNY SIGNS ON THE TUBEFunny signs on the London Underground are not run-of-the-mill graffiti. Whoever creates them carefully matches the fonts of genuine signage, including the authentic Johnson Sans specially designed for London Transport before World War II. Beneath Tottenham Court Road station on a Central Line route diagram, for instance, a footnote reads “submarine to Somalia”.

On the same map, “Shepherds Bush” has become “Shepherds Pie”.

West Ruislip, the last station at the western end of the Central Line, has been changed to “The End”.

Signs seen recently include:

• Please remain seated. Expect turbulence.• Pull lever to pour gravy on sausages located in drivers

compartment• Peak hours may necessitate that you let other passengers

sit on your lap• [On a tube train seat] By appointment to Her Majesty the

Queen’s Bottom• No eye contact. Penalty £200 [The English being notorious for not talking to strangers]

• A notice seen at Farringdon station suggests commuters tuck their trousers into their socks, to avoid being bitten by mice.

CROSSINGSNot for many of us in far-off steam days, the blast of air as another train scampered past on an adjacent track, its goods wagons leaping by in tall and flattened shadow. Or the whirlwind passing of a passenger train. No, back in the heady days of steam to far-flung corners of our country, it was the plod of branch line workings or the speedier and burlier boys on the main lines gathering socially along the way at wayside halts and crossings along single track that was the order of the day.

Much as I loved steam and the wooden saloons and fine dining, I wonder whether, if it were possible to repeat the train travel of the 50s once more, I would still enjoy baking at a siding at 40 degrees, waiting and waiting for a crossing to take place.

In Namibia (known then as South West Africa), it was a regular occurrence, often at midday or two in the afternoon, underneath a brassy sky and with not much more than sun-burnt sand to look at. At 12 years of age, a Schweppes orange with ice in the dining saloon helped. The promise of clouds building for an afternoon thunderstorm also helped and at 16 or 17 years of age, pretty girls aboard also helped. But 16 going on 17 only comes by once and like steam itself, is long past.

Eventually, shimmering, its boiler exuding waves of heat, the opposing 19D would pant past and, if it was the passenger for Windhoek, shouts of recognition or chaffing would make us forget just how hot it was.

It was fascinating at such times to observe the enginemen on the footplate. Impossible heat on board a heat machine. They were sweaty and dirt-smeared. They had probably been spraying themselves with the hose, so maybe it wasn’t all sweat, the dripping shirts and shiny faces. What a job during a South African summer! But that evening it would be Upington or Karasberg and a cold shower and a cold beer and a night between cool sheets.

Crossings on the main line. Bulky locomotives hunched next to one another with their goods trains, waiting patiently. They looked patient from a distance, from a car’s window. But I wonder, as they too waited and waited, if a certain impatience didn’t make its appearance on a hot footplate? What would have been said? “You can make that cup of tea now, Boet!’” To the fireman. And after a while, “Make that another cup of tea, Boet!”

And as a crossing passenger train eases in after half an hour and they realise that they are only second in line for leaving behind another long goods, “Make that another f*kkin cup of tea, Boetman!”

I liked, when travelling by road, seeing the big 25s and 25NCs lined up at such halts and tiny “stations”. Sometimes underneath towering bluegum trees, sometimes all alone on the veld amongst the scrub with a tall, coloured signal gracefully commanding that they stop. I enjoyed looking at their consists; the variety of goods wagons one saw back then. I enjoyed it when the road, instead of being a kilometre away from the railway track, swooped closer and such locomotion could be studied more intimately. The state of the engines; proud and shiny or dull grey with lime streaking their boilers and tenders. Black smoke, especially with the condensers as they stoked for departure from their siding. Railway houses occupied, built in stone by the Cape Government Railway, scattered three of four at a time at lonely halts. Struggling gum trees or peppercorns frying in the Karoo sun. No shade really, just the sound of an afternoon wind soughing through their branches. At some halts even the bluegums struggled.

But when evening came and with it a cool, relieving breeze and the sun dipped and softened and shadows moulded the contours, then the heat and the toil of day was forgotten as the trains slipped into their sidings and waited for the ritual to continue and hot men on hot footplates cooled down too and laughed more easily along the single tracks of bygone days.

- Pierre de Wet



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