Name of the Project
Dunnottar train manufacturing complex project.

Location
Gauteng, South Africa.

Client
Gibela Rail Transport Consortium, comprising Alstom (61%), Ubumbano Rail (30%) and New Africa Rail (9%).

Project Description
The project involves the construction of a 60 000 m² factory at the Dunnottar industrial complex to manufacture trains for South African State-owned Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). This forms part of a R51-billion contract to supply 600 state-of-the-art X’trapolis Mega commuter trains over ten years and provide technical support, as well as spare parts, over a 19-year period, for the rail agency.

The train manufacturing complex has a geographical footprint of 78 ha, comprising:

• the total built area of the factory of 51 ha, of which only 33 ha will be developed. The remaining land comprises an environmentally sensitive wetland, the preservation of which has necessitated the construction of a dam as part of the design and layout of the plant.
• 27 ha that have been reserved for the Ubumbano Rail Park, which will house suppliers of materials and components required for the new trains. The manufacturing contract has a minimum of 65% local-content stipulation.

The factory will produce 580 trains comprising 3 480 cars.

The plant will be equipped with several kilometres of rail network, including a 1.25 km dynamic test track for the testing of completed trains.

The first 20 trains were manufactured in Brazil, with the last of these arriving in South Africa in June 2017. The remaining 580 will be built at Dunnottar. At its peak, the manufacturing facility will produce 62 trains a year.

Potential Job Creation
About 47 small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) have received work to the value of R219-million from the construction programme, with 32 of these being local SMMEs.

At peak production, more than 1 000 employees are expected to be manufacturing an average of five trains a month.

Value
R1-billion.

Duration
The plant is expected to be completed early in 2018.

Latest Developments
With plant construction two months away from completion, the Gibela Rail Transport Consortium has moved its dedicated team into the new train manufacturing plant and training centre complex.

Work has started on the manufacture of the first of 580 six-car X’Trapolis Mega commuter trains to be built over the next ten years for PRASA.

By the end of the first quarter of 2018, the first train’s car body shell – its panel-clad metal frame – is expected to be completed, with the first South African-built train ready for delivery to PRASA by the end of 2018.

Further, most of the 65 apprentices selected during 2017 have started their training at the Gibela training centre.

One of the 20 trains built at Alstom’s Lapa factory, in Brazil, will now be based at Gibela’s training centre, where it will be instrumental in the training of about 19 500 artisans and technicians.

One train will be used for testing purposes, while the remaining 18 trains have been in commercial service for part of 2017 and are estimated to have completed more than 500 000 km.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Aecom (engineering, procurement and construction management contractor); Trencon Construction (site clearance, bulk earthworks and civil infrastructure) and Trencon Construction and Black Jills Engineering (main site buildings, including the training centre), Saflog Consulting Services (rail infrastructure).

On Budget and on Time?
Initial timelines have been negatively impacted on by various factors, including land and other permitting delays, which had a budgetary knock-on effect. Ameliorating the effect of these forms part of the ongoing project execution.

Contact Details for Project Information
Gibela communications director Pamella Radebe, email pamella.radebe@gibela-rail.com