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Railway engines of different countries

which is a better locomotive for economics of a country?

  • diesel engines

    Votes: 14 15.6%
  • electric engines

    Votes: 76 84.4%

  • Total voters
    90
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GE, Transnet ahead of schedule with locomotive project

NEW York Stock Exchange-listed General Electric (GE) and SA’s Transnet Rail Engineering (TRE) said yesterday their joint venture to manufacture locomotives in SA was ahead of schedule.

The joint venture would see the two companies making a locomotive on South African soil for the first time. GE first delivered a locomotive made in the US to SA soon after opening an African office in 1898.

GE won a tender to supply 100 heavy-haul diesel locomotives to TRE. Earlier this year, the contract was extended for a further 43 locomotives, as Transnet expanded its rail capabilities. This followed years of criticism from the mining industry, frustrated by the low levels of capacity on coal and iron-ore export lines at a time when commodity prices were soaring.

As part of the tender, GE volunteered to include a local content programme, similar to those it had used in other countries, and set a self-imposed target of about 30% for local content, the company said.

The Mineworkers Investment Company was GE’s empowerment partner for the venture.

Transnet was expected to issue a tender for 1300 additional locomotives, 700 of which would be diesel. GE was interested in this potential tender. French company Alstom had also expressed an interest.

In terms of the deal, 133 locomotives were intended to be built locally and only 10 in Erie and Grove City, Pennsylvania. The latter 10 have been built.

So far 54 locomotives have been delivered. They were built by South Africans working for Transnet who were trained by GE staff, TRE’s CE, Richard Vallihu, said. "The key point is that it is difficult to build and manage trains on SA’s uneven terrain. As such, we have trained our staff with the help of the world’s best engineers. Still, this project is a local project which will benefit SA," he said.

The GE Model C30ACi locomotives were the first South African locomotives to meet UIC2 emissions standards.

They would be used to haul freight and coal.

Their advanced technology decreases life-cycle costs, improves fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. The global president and CEO of GE Transportation, Lorenzo Simonelli said the company was committed to building freight trains to service Africa but would have to involve a relatively large portion of local content.

GE said it had surpassed its self-imposed target of 30% local content as the locomotives assembled in SA had 37% local content.

"We are in this for the long haul. We have to be local if we want to do business in SA for years and beyond," Mr Simonelli said.

GE said the 42nd locomotive was a milestone of the order.

"The delivery of this locomotive is a big milestone for GE and the Mineworkers Investment Company as we are celebrating the first South African product delivered by our joint venture company GE South Africa Technologies.

"These locomotives represent great opportunities for Transnet and SA as well as GE.

"Transnet will be able to significantly improve hauling capability while reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions," Mr Simonelli said.

Two GE locomotives would do the work of three older locomotives and save 600000l of fuel a year.

They would also reduce emissions by 1500 tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to eliminating the emissions from 310 cars on SA’s roads.

shortage of locos for pak to transport nato goods

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railway cannot provide transportation services to Nato because of a shortage of locomotives, Federal Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said on Friday.

“We are already short of locomotives to meet local freight requirements. How we can arrange locomotives for Nato supplies?” Railway Minister said while talking to media persons here.

Rejecting a news report regarding provision of three routes for transportation of Nato goods, the Minister said that his ministry had no such information and the news published in a section of the press was “baseless”.

Commenting on the future strategy, he said the Ministry would spend around Rs22.8 billion to execute 37 projects for rehabilitation of its infrastructure and reinvigorating services in 2012-13, making the organisation a profit-earning entity.

“During 2012-13, priority will be given to procurement of new locomotives as railways is currently facing shortage of around 500 locomotives.”

He said the government had allocated Rs2.5 billion for procurement of around 200 locomotives to help bridge the engine shortfall, particularly for freight services, adding that Rs1 billion would be spent on special repair of 150 locomotives.

His ministry, Bilour said, would assign second proority to the rehabilitation and dualising railway tracks for which Rs3.8 billion had been earmarked for the next financial year. “The ministry will spend Rs1.5 billion for dualising the Khanewal-Raiwind track, Rs638 million on Lodhran and Khanewal, Rs300 million on Shahdara-Lalamusa and Rs 217 million on Shahdara-Faisalabad track.”

He said the ministry was still trying to recover the damage done to the railways’ assets in incidents after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and by 2010 floods, adding: “Rs800 million and Rs250 million have been earmarked, respectively, to repair the damaged infrastructure.”

However, he said a major chunk of the budget would be spent on procurement and manufacture of 202 modern passenger coaches from China.

Bilour said that his ministry would launch a pilot project for mechanisation of track maintenance system, besides rehabilitation and conversion of 400 coaches at a cost of Rs116 million.

The minister said that the ministry had already initiated a pilot project for manufacturing of five 3,000HP locomotives to efficiently run its passenger and train services.

He said a ‘Project Management Unit’ was also being established in the ministry that would help execute different projects in a smooth manner avoiding procedural delays.

Bilour said Rs300 million would be spent on strengthening and rehabilitation of 159 ‘weak bridges’ to avoid any untoward incident.

“Two dry ports will be set up at Prem Nagar and at Shershah Railway Station for which Rs494 million and Rs485 million have been allocated respectively,” the minister maintained.

Tunisia to Take Delivery of Six New Locomotives

Tunis — Tunisia will take delivery next Thursday of 6 new locomotives purchased by the National railway Company (SNCFT) from China's South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation Limited CSR.

According to a Transport Ministry communiqué, these locomotives will be operational next October.

The SNCFT has purchased in total 12 locomotives from the Chinese Group, two of which have already been put into service on the Tunis-Beja-Jendouba line.

China CNR Corporation Limited : CNR Datong Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd. delivered high-power electric locomotive with AC transmission to Shenhua Group


Datong Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Datong Co.) officially delivered two high-power electric locomotives with eight-axle and AC transmission to Shenhua Group Corporation Limited, just following the delivery of the first batch of two high-power locomotives with AC transmission to Belarus on May 16. It is also the first time that the Chinese high-power electric locomotive with AC transmission running on the local government-controlled railway line within China.

This high-power electric locomotive with eight-axle and AC transmission, specially developed for and delivered to Shenhua Group, is based on the manufacturing platform for the harmony type high-power electric locomotive in light of the actual railway conditions of Shenhua Group's Shenmu-Shuozhou line, having the total traction power 9600KW and maximum speed 120km/ h, leading the world-advanced level in various fields relating to its performance, which is suitable for the regional transportation of the bulk cargos and the heavy-haul transportation of coal, oil and other resources materials.

Since 2008, the electric locomotives with AC transmission have being operated on Chinese main lines, including Datong-Qinhuangdao coal line, with single locomotive hauling 10000-tonnage cargos. This electric locomotive plays an important role for the fast and heavy haul transportation in China, and becomes the main type of the locomotives for Chinese heavy haul railway freight transportation thanks to its higher traction power, remarkable energy-saving efficiency and easy operation.

Before introduction of the high-power electric locomotives with AC transmission, Chinese local government-controlled railways operated the conventional electric locomotive with DC transmission, which could not effectively meet requirements of rapid-increasing transport capacity due to its lower traction power and higher energy consumption.

One new high-power electric locomotive with AC transmission, after its operation on the railway lines, has the traction power equal to 2 or 3 traditional locomotives with DC transmission, and has longer maintenance period and higher ratio of the performance and pricing. It is understood that the high-power electric locomotives are now widely promoted and used in the field of Chinese national railways by light of their excellent performance. The delivery of high-power electric locomotive with AC transmission from Datong Co. to the Chinese local government-controlled railways is a landmark event for the Chinese local railways to renew and replace the conventional traction power, and is also shown that Datong Co. has become the first Chinese enterprise to supply high-power electric locomotive with AC transmission to the local government-controlled railways .in China

In February 2012, CNR and Shenhua Group signed the framework agreement on the strategic cooperation, which states that CNR shall provide the advanced, reliable and suitable locomotives, rolling stocks and key components for the coal transportation to Shenhua Group, and develop all directional cooperation on the equipment management, operation, maintenance and repairing. In addition to the supply of the locomotives and rolling stocks to Shenhua Group, CNR shall carry out the joint development and design on the technology. For example, as per the characteristics of the Shenhua Group railway lines, bridges and tunnels, CNR shall study and establish a theoretical system to adapt to the requirements of the heavy haul transportation from Shenhua Group, improve the comprehensive technical performance of the specialized locomotives and rolling stocks running on the coal lines.

With the further development of China's economy, there will be a sustainable increase on the transportation volume of bulk cargos, such as natural resources, minerals, raw materials and etc. which shall invigorate the demand for the railway transportation. It is expected that more high-power electric locomotives, if running on the Chinese local railway lines, can effectively alleviate the bottleneck of the bulk cargos transportation.
 
More problems with KiwiRail's Chinese-made trains have been revealed.
A KiwiRail document obtained by Radio New Zealand said the alternator cooling fan on several DL Locomotives which came into service in the past two years was found to be defective.
Twenty of the locomotives have been put into service and more will soon be added to the fleet.
In one case, cracking to fan blade welds led to the blade breaking away and lodging in protective screens.
Rail staff are warned not to occupy the alternator compartment, or have the doors open to that area, when the engine is on.
KiwiRail says the issue is being rectified by the manufacturer under warranty.
It says the necessary preventative work was quickly completed on all affected locomotives and has not affected freight operations in any way.
However the company has admitted the new Chinese made locomotives are breaking down twice as often as the others in the fleet.
Freight operations general manager Aaron Templeton says there are often teething problems with new rolling stock.
"We believe that DL locomotives are no different to any other locos in that regard."
He says at the moment they are about 50% less reliable than the rest of the fleet, but that is a significant improvement on four or five months ago.
The locomotive problem follows issues with Chinese-made rail wagons, including the brakes on all 500 needing to be replaced before entering service.
KiwiRail said it had carried out work to replace the brakes after initial tests showed fully loaded wagons failed stop within a specified distance.
Mr Templeton said some problems are to be expected when introducing new rolling stock. The the wagons were performing well and had travelled more than 26 million kilometres, he said.
New Zealand First transport spokesperson Brendan Horan says the problems are unacceptable.



10 refurbished locomotives: NLC, Korean Rail ink $11.11mn deal

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National Logistics Cell (NLC) and Korean Rail (KORAIL) on Friday signed $11.11 million agreement for the purchase of 10 refurbished (GMU-30) locomotives to be used for freight operation.
NLC and KORAIL have been negotiating for the purchase/sale of refurbished GMU-30 locomotives since October 2010 that culminated in the finalisation of the agreement. As per agreement KORAIL will provide the type of locomotives already held on the inventory of Pakistan Railways (PR), except for different gauge i.e Standard vs Broad gauge.
KORAIL will overhaul these locomotives and change the gauge to suit to PR track requirements. Spare Parts for two years maintenance are also being procured.
The locomotives will be delivered CIF Karachi within 10 months of opening of L/C and the payments will be as 20 percent advance and 80 percent on delivery of locomotives through L/C.
KORAIL will also detail a maintenance and supervisory consultancy team comprising of five engineers for two years at an additional cost of $1.4 million. The locomotives will have a warranty for two years. NLC will establish its workshop facilities in coordination with PR for maintenance of these locomotives.
According to the agreement KORAIL will hand over these locomotives after a test run over 1250 kms (Karachi-Lahore) and will provide performance warranty bond for 5 percent of contract price. KORAIL will be phasing out 46 locomotives during next year and NLC intends to acquire more locomotives from KORAIL based on the experience after this deal. According to the official sources, NLC is planning to strengthen it’s freight operations especially for goods in transit for Afghanistan as well as inland freight operations.
According to the terms of the agreement these locomotives are same type of locomotives, held on the inventory of PR, except for different gauge i.e Standard vs Broad gauge. KORAIL will also dispatch a team of 5 engineers under Maintenance and Supervisory Consultancy Team to Pakistan for a period of two years and this would cost Pakistan $1.4 million additionally. These locomotives would have a warranty for two years. NLC will establish it’s workshop facilities in coordination with Pakistan railways for maintenance of these locomotives

GE, UP herald 5,000th Evolution Series locomotive

GE Transportation Friday announced the rollout of the 5,000th Evolution Series Locomotive, in production since since 2005.

The company says the Evolution Series is GE's "most successful global locomotive platform serving railroads in North and South America, Australia, Africa, and Asia."

The 5,000th unit was delivered to Union Pacific under the road number 7964. The locomotive will be featured in the Denver Post Cheyenne Frontier Days event that is part of the UP's 150th anniversary celebration, with UP steam locomotive No. 844 on the point, followed by GE Transportation's 5,000th Evolution Series diesel electric locomotive.

Dick Hartman, UP director of Public Affairs in Colorado and Wyoming, said ,"We are proud to continue to be a part the Frontier Days celebration by pulling such a historic passenger special with the legendary steam locomotive No. 844 along the northern Colorado Front range."

GE Transportation President and CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said, "The delivery of 5,000EvolutionSeriesLocomotivesis a historic milestone for GE Transportation. The Evolution Series Locomotive is GE's most successful global locomotive platform contributing to sustainable infrastructure growth around the world. The Evolution Series has significantly improved hauling capability while reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. We are also proud to share in this historical eventwith the Union Pacific Railroad to celebrate 150 years of rail service excellence in the United States."

GE Transportation says the Evolution Series reduces emissions by more than approximately 40% compared with previous GE models.

GE Transportation is a division of Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric Co.





PR loco average age crosses 33 years

The Senate’s Standing Committee on Pakistan Railways on Thursday was informed that budgetary deficit of Rs 40.46 billion is anticipated by end of 2012-13.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Abdul Ghafoor Haidri.

Briefing the committee, PR Secretary Arif Azeem said that railways is in a dilapidated condition due to non-availability of financial assistance. The PR has pending liabilities amounting to Rs 5 billion and it has low cash reserves. The available locomotives have average age of 33 years while in rest of the world this is about 20 years. More than 55 percent track is overage, 70 percent of freight wagons are low-capacity and 86 percent of bridges are more than 100 years old. The secretary also told the committee that signalling system of PR is mostly obsolete. About railway police, he said it is under-strength and under-equipped.

Azeem further said earning up to June 20, 2012 was Rs 14.92 billion as compared to Rs 18.04 billion during the same period last year. Persistent inability to pay salaries, pension, fuel and electricity bills and discharge other obligatory expenses. The federal government provided Rs 2.1 billion per month for payment of salaries and pension of about 95,000 employees.

The ministry has planned short-term solution to keep PR on functional condition. It plans rationalisation of services including stoppage of uneconomical routes, repair of old locomotives on war footing and reactivate Pakistan Railway Board, which held three meeting recently. Keeping in view these measures, we expect that PR revenue would likely increase to Rs 14.1 billion in 2011-12 and Rs 23 billion for the year 2012-13. The secretary assured the committee that there is no oil supply problem currently with PR because Pakistan State Oil regularly supplies it.

The committee also informed that the Planning Commission has approved three major schemes at a cost of Rs 35 billion to support railway revival. Letter of Interest (LoI) has been issued for rehabilitation of 27 locomotives. Tenders for procurement of 150 new locomotives are under evaluation and 50 locomotives will be procured during 2012-13, the secretary maintained.

Federal Minister for PR Ghulam Ahmad Bilor told the committee that former finance minister Shaukat Tarin in 2010 accepted the bailout package of Rs 11 billion but could not release a single penny in this regard. He praises President Asif Ali Zardari for providing Rs 2.1 billion for payment of monthly salaries and pensions of the employees. He claimed that Indian railway was also confronting losses but its government provided several assistances and today it stands on its feet. While in case of Pakistan, he said the government gives more importance to road sector, construction of motorways but never provided any package to PR. Today Indian has 8,300 locomotives.

The secretary asked the committee that the government should take the responsibility of Rs 40 billion overdraft of the State Bank of Pakistan because the PR is unable to clear it in the next 10 to 15 years. Currently, the PR is earning Rs 800 million from two private trains Shalimar and Business trains and expressed the hope more such transactions will be made with private sector. He also said that the PR has already initiated a huge campaign about recovering PR encroached property across the country and since January 2012, 2,261 acres of encroached land has been recovered or regularised.

The committee chairman Haidri said that it looks like some people intentionally want to destabilise PR as its problems have intensified during the last four years. He also said it is good that PR will not allow NATO supply through it because we will oppose it. He said there are severe reservations over restoring NATO supply through roads.

Iran starts manufacturing locomotives

The Alborz Province in the northern part of Iran has opened the country’s first locomotive factory.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the opening.
The factory will produce 120 locomotives annually. They will save 10% of fuel. Iranian locomotives may reach a speed of 160 km/h using 25% less fuel, compared with analogue models.
Engineers say that the national locomotives of Iran meet international standards. Only a few states have technologies for their production.
 
Indian Railways to procure 9000 HP electric locos for DFC

Gearing up for hauling maximum loadings in the upcoming dedicated freight corridor (DFC), the railways have decided to procure 200 high horse power (HP) electric locomotives including import of 40 locos from Japan.

In addition to its 6000 HP locomotives, the national transporter will acquire 9000 HP electric engines to increase its haulage capacity.
"We will procure 200 high HP electric locomotives for the DFC, out of which 40 will be imported from Japan as the requirement is to increase the carrying capacity substantially. The rest will be manufactured in the country", said a senior Railway Ministry official.
The carrying capacity will increase to 6000 tons per locomotive from the existing 5000 tons capacity.

It is estimated to cost about Rs 20 cr per 9000 HP locomotive. At present it costs about Rs 14 cr for the 6000 HP loco.

"The import of locomotives from Japan is as per the Japanese loan condition since the western corridor of the DFC is being funded by JICA," the official informed.

Adding further he said, "The rest of the locomotives will be assembled in India with technology and components from Japan." The procurement process of modern locomotives is to begin shortly as part of the DFC, which is likely to be operational in the next three years.

The 3373 km long DFC, the flagship project of the railways, aims to augment the rail transport capacity to meet the growing requirement of movement of goods by segregating freight from passenger traffic.

The Western DFC (1534 km) will be from Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai to Tughlakabad and Dadri near Delhi and would cater largely to the container transport requirements between the existing and emerging ports in Maharashtra and Gujarat and the northern hinterland.

The Eastern DFC will be from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni (1839 km) near Kolkata to be extended in the future to serve the new deep sea port proposed in Kolkata area and will largely serve coal and steel traffic.

Railways is setting up an electric locomotive depot with maintenance facility at Rewari for the DFC on a 20 acre land as it is crucial for DFC operation, the spokesman added.
 
^^ Any info about the Japanese engines mate ?

Edit:

Any information about the gas turbine based locomotive from GTRE for Indian Railways.

here you seemed to be missing few very great implications of kaveri project on our industry which are-
1)it can very well be used for less demanding areas like UAVs,UCAVs,
2)it has already been modified for naval warships,and infact it is doing fine over there by proving 15MW of power(infact DRDO has already tested the KMGT at 12MW at vishakhapatam facility)
3)it can very well be fitted into naval warships
4)gas turbine version of kaveri has already been developed and IR wants loco based on GT,this can produce a massive 17000hp of power and can easily haul a combined load of 11000+ tonnes

I know you guys are working on GT1

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Alstom SA : Alstom presents the first freight locomotive KZ8A to the Kazakh Railways


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Henri Poupart-Lafarge, President of Alstom Transport, unveiled today the first electric freight locomotive KZ8A to the Kazakh Railways, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), in the presence of Mr Butzbach, the Mayor of Belfort's city and Mr. Mamin the President of KTZ. The ceremony was held at Alstom's site in Belfort where KZ8A has been designed and manufactured. It is the first of the 295 locomotives (200 freight and 95 passenger) ordered by KTZ to Alstom and its Russian partner TMH in 2010.

First product of a new range of locomotives dedicated to Kazakhstan market, KZ8A is the most powerful freight locomotives in the world able to haul up to 9,000 tons and run at 120 kph. It can operate in extreme weather conditions with temperatures ranging from -50°C to +50°C. This locomotive offers drivers comfort over long distance through its large cabin equipped with microwave, fridge, floor heating, comfortable heated seats and foot rests. The KZ8A locomotive is now under Russian certification and will enter into dynamic tests in Kazakhstan in January 2013.

"Alstom is pleased to participate to ambitious Kazakhstan projects in railways by supplying a next-generation locomotive." said Henri Poupart-Lafarge. "This technologically advanced product is the result of a solid relationship of trust between Alstom's and KTZ's project teams over the past 2 years" added Bernard Gonnet, Alstom Transport's Senior Vice President in charge of Russia and CIS.

While the first 10 pre-series of KZ8A locomotives are being manufactured at Alstom's Belfort facility, the remaining will be built in Astana, the new Alstom plant in Kazakhstan. This site for which the first stone was placed on June 26, 2010, will be inaugurated on December 12, 2012. Shortly after, the site will be able to start the production with a capacity of up to 80 locomotives per year.

This contract will result in the creation of 650 qualified jobs in Kazakhstan. In France, over 120 employees from Alstom's Belfort manufacturing plant have been assigned to the project for a five-year period. Around 100 employees from other Alstom sites (Le Creusot, Ornans, Tarbes and Villeurbanne in France, and Charleroi in Belgium) contribute also to the project. The execution of this contract has also an impact on employment for suppliers - one job at Alstom creates some three jobs for its suppliers
 
CN testing natural gas-fired locomotives in oilsands rail corridor

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Canadian National Railway is exploring whether its feasible to use cheap and relatively clean natural gas to power its trains instead of diesel.
To start out, CN has retrofitted two of its existing diesel-fired locomotives to run mainly on natural gas,. It's testing the locomotives along the 480-kilometre stretch between Edmonton, a key energy processing and pipeline hub, and the oilsands epicentre of Fort McMurray, Alta.
Longer term, CN and three other partners are looking at developing an all-new natural gas locomotive engine as well as a specialized tank car to carry the fuel.
Natural gas giant Encana Corp. (TSX:ECA) is providing the fuelling, which, along with maintenance, will be taking place in Edmonton.
Energy Conversion Inc., the U.S. company that's supplying the conversion kits to CN, says the move will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent and nitrogen oxide emissions by 70 per cent over a locomotive duty cycle.
"Natural gas has a lower carbon content compared with diesel fuel, so that locomotives using natural gas — if the railway technology employing this form of energy ultimately proves viable — would produce significantly fewer carbon dioxide emissions," said CN chief operating officer Keith Creel in a release.
Railcars currently carry machinery and construction materials up to the oilsands, and extraction byproducts such as petroleum coke and sulphur south.
Natural gas is currently cheap and plentiful in North America, so there are likely cost benefits to the railway as well, though a CN spokesman said it's too early quantify what the impact might be. CN says it already uses nearly 15 per cent less fuel than the industry average.
For the longer-term project, CN is working with Caterpillar Co. subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel, green engine-maker Westport Innovations Inc. (TSX:WPT) and Quebec gas distributor Gaz Metro.
The group expects to test the new engines in a laboratory in 2013 and road-test the prototypes in 2014.
Over the past several years, technological advances have unleashed huge volumes of natural gas from shale formations across North America. A major supply glut has resulted, leading to depressed prices.
Some companies, including Encana, have been pushing for cheap, plentiful natural gas to be used as a transportation fuel. Proponents see industrial trucking and public transit fleets being the first to adopt the technology, rather than everyday consumers.

Chinese firm to build 95 new locos for Transnet

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A consortium led by Chinese manufacturer CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive (CSR) will supply 95 new electric locomotives to Transnet Freight Rail's general freight business.
The purchase will boost Transnet's operational performance‚ reliability and overall energy efficiency the Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Monday.

The winning bidder is a joint venture between CSR, which has a 70% stake and Matsetse Basadi, which owns the remainder. It will be known as CSR E-loco Supply.

CSR is a leading railway rolling stock manufacturer in China. It is the biggest supplier of electric locomotives‚ electric multiple units (EMUs) and metro rail cars in China. It makes new technology railway engineering vehicles and the medium and low speed Maglev trains‚ sub-systems and components.

The consortium and Transnet have agreed on a tight delivery schedule that will see the first batch of locomotives delivered to the company by December next year‚ while the final batch will be delivered in September 2014. The parties are committed to producing the majority of the locomotives locally.

The first 10 locomotives will be assembled in CSR's factories in China‚ while the remainder will be made in South Africa in line with the agreed supplier development targets of 60.5% of the total value of the contract being handled locally.

Speaking at the official signing ceremony at Transnet Freight Rail's depot in Capital Park, Pretoria‚ Gigaba said the award followed an open tender process, which drew interest from leading manufacturers around the world.

He added that the proposals, which closed in April, were evaluated by different sub-teams of specialists from Transnet. In line with Transnet's governance processes‚ the evaluation was overseen and monitored by Transnet's internal audit team.

The purchase is part of Transnet's long-term fleet renewal programme aimed at increasing its capacity while reducing the average age of its fleet. Transnet Freight Rail plans to grow its freight volumes from the current 201-million tons to over 350-million tons in seven years.

Transnet has invited additional proposals for the supply of 1,064 locomotives (465 diesel and 599 electric) as part of the company's R300bn seven-year capital expansion programme
 
50 made-in-India railway engines to chug into Pak

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After months of dilly-dallying, India has finally agreed to sell and lease out its locomotives to Pakistan, thus helping the neighbouring country restart its defunct train services.
In the first-of-its-kind deal, the Indian Railways will deliver 50 refurbished American Locomotive Company (ALCO) technology locos at an estimated cost of Rs. 350 crore( $ 6.5 million ).
Another set of 50 new locos of a higher horsepower (3000-3500) will also be leased out. Lease charges of Indian locomotives work out to Rs. 900 per hour or Rs. 21,600 per day.

Pakistan is expected to get delivery of the first instalment of 10 refurbished engines of 2,000-2,600 horsepower capacity sometime next year.

The proposed arrangement will include a liberalised visa regime for Indian engineers who will be required to visit Pakistan for training purposes.

While yearly maintenance of engines is proposed to be done at the Indian Railways shed at Ludhiana, the Pakistan government has agreed to ramp up facilities at its railway shed at Mughalpura near Lahore.

Running 19,000 trains over a 54,000-kilometre network each day, the Indian Railways is hugely stressed for train engines.

"But the production units will churn out train engines in bigger numbers in the coming years. Issues with Pakistan have now been sorted out. We will shortly start working on the modifications and fix up the used locos to be delivered to Pakistan," officials said.

With 137 of its fleet of 494 locos dysfunctional, train operations in Pakistan have virtually collapsed and annual losses worth a whopping R25 billion have been reported. In the last four years, the Pakistan government has provided Rs. 93 billion subsidy to its railways department, Rs. 32 billion as assistance for development projects and Rs. 14 billion as overdraft from the State Bank of Pakistan, railways minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said recently.
 
Grant funds battery locomotive research


USA: The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded Pennsylvania State University and Norfolk Southern a $400 000 grant to continue research into building battery locomotives. NS is to contribute an additional $590 000.

NS and Penn State began developing a prototype electric shunting locomotive in 2008. The new grant will allow researchers to continue exploring battery technologies, and apply them to a new hybrid locomotive for main line use. The work will run until December 2013, and aims to provide benchmarks for evaluating energy savings and emissions reduction from battery technology.

The project is 'an exciting complement to Penn State Altoona's new Rail Transportation Engineering baccalaureate programme', said David Wormley, Dean of the College of Engineering. 'We are pleased that our faculty and students can continue their research on this project and contribute to development of new and innovative technologies for the rail industry.'
 
Turkish PowerHaul locomotives arrive in UK

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Turkish company Tülomsas is hoping to sign a contract by the end of this year to supply state railway TCDD with 20 European-profile GE Transportation PowerHaul locomotives.

The first European-profile PH37ACai PowerHaul was the highlight of GE Transportation's presence at InnoTrans last month. It was assembled by Tülomsas from US-supplied components, and after being on show in Berlin in the branding of Heavy Haul Power International was due to be shipped to GE Transportation's plant at Erie in the USA for thorough testing. Tülomsas is to assemble another two production-series locomotives, which will enter commercial service with HHPI.

Tülomsas had previously assembled a UK-profile PowerHaul, which TCDD used for trials before it was shipped to the UK in October where it will be demonstrated to freight operators.

PowerHaul offers 'maximum flexibility for all markets with this class of locomotive', according to GE Transportation's General Manager, Global Locomotive Operations, Robert McKeel, with a claimed 9% fuel saving over comparable diesel-electric locomotives.
 
Bombardier and Electro-Motive Diesel to assemble locomotives for export

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Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation is joining forces with Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD), to assemble diesel electric locomotives in India. Bombardier will deliver diesel locomotives to EMD for its export to Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. This announcement builds upon a similar collaboration between both companies at Bombardier’s manufacturing site in Ciudad Sahagun, Mexico.

Bombardier will manufacture components, including underframes and bogies, and assemble the EMD locomotives at its Savli facility in India. EMD will provide all engineering and quality control and will be responsible for product performance.

“Bombardier and EMD will help transform the rail transportation industry in the region by leveraging both of our companies’ capabilities,” said André Navarri, President and Chief Operating Officer, Bombardier Transportation. “By further expanding its global relationship with EMD, Bombardier will provide best-in-class products in keeping with its tradition of quality and extend its range of rail vehicle manufacturing in India.”

“This announcement furthers our commitment to our global customer base, and we fully intend to build upon our heritage,” said Billy Ainsworth, President and CEO, EMD. “In September 2011, we announced the opening of a facility in Patli for locomotive traction control systems, and we want to continue to invest in the region with this and other promising projects. Bombardier has been an excellent partner, and we look forward to working with them in India.”
 
LOCOMOTIVES OF SRI LANKA RAILWAYS


Sri Lanka Railways M4

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Builder ALCO, Canada

Model MX620

Build date 1975 onwards

Number Built 14

UIC classification Co-Co

Gauge 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)

Bogies 2

Wheelbase 11 ft 2 in (3,400 mm)

Length 58 ft 3 in (17,750 mm)

Loco weight 93 Tonnes

Fuel type Diesel

Prime mover ALCO-Bombardier V12 12-251 C3

Transmission Diesel Electric

Top speed 105 km/h (65 mph)

Power output 1,750 hp (1,300 kW)

Loco brake Air,Vacuum,Dynamic






Sri Lanka Railways M8

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Builder Diesel Locomotive Works

Origin WDM-2

Build date 1995 onwards

Total produced 8

UIC classification Co-Co

Gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)

Wheel diameter 1,092 mm (3 ft 7.0 in)

Wheelbase 12.834 m (42 ft 1.3 in)

Length 17.12 m (56 ft 2 in)

Width 2.864 m (9 ft 4.8 in)

Height 4.185 m (13 ft 8.8 in)

Axle load 18,800 kg (41,000 lb)

Loco weight 112,800 kg (249,000 lb)

Fuel capacity 5,000 l (1,100 imp gal; 1,300 US gal)

Prime mover ALCO 251-B

Engine RPM 400 - 1000 rpm

Aspiration Turbo-supercharged

Cylinders 16

Top speed 120 km/h (75 mph)

Power output 2,600 hp (1,900 kW)

adhesion 0.27

Status active​


Sri Lanka Railways M10

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Power type Diesel Electric

Builder Diesel Locomotive Works, India

Model Modifed wdm3a

Total produced 3 (another 3 expected)

AAR wheel arr. C-C

UIC classification Co'Co'

Gauge 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)

Bogies 2

Wheel diameter 1,092 mm (3.583 ft)

Length 18,650 mm (61.19 ft)

Width 2,950 mm (9.68 ft)

Height 4,077 mm (13.376 ft)

Axle load 19.5 Tons

Locomotive weight 117 Tons

Fuel type diesel

Fuel capacity 5,000 L (1,100 imp gal; 1,300 US gal)

Prime mover ALCO 251 B-16 Cyl

Engine type 4 Stroke Diesel

Alternator BHEL TA 10102FV

Cylinders 16

Transmission Electric AC/DC

Multiple working Yes

Top speed 120 km/h (75 mph)

Power output 2,300 hp (1,700 kW)

Locomotive brake Air, Dynamic, Hand

Locomotive brakeforce IRAB-1 System

Train brakes Air

First run 2012
 

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