Name and Location
Majuba rail project, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Client
Eskom.

Project Description
The 68 km corridor is the first large greenfield freight-rail infrastructure project to be undertaken in South Africa since 1986 and will be operated by State-owned Transnet Freight Rail (TFR).

The structures that will be constructed are 96 culverts, nine cattle creeps, 32 agricultural underpasses and overpasses, 18 bridges, one service duct and 40 cattle grids.

The overall objective is to ensure the security of coal supply through logistics solutions at Majuba, Tutuka, Camden, Grootvlei, Kendal and Hendrina power stations to cater for a throughput potential of 32-million tons a year of coal by rail. The coal will be unloaded at the terminal by the upgraded coal tippler system.

The line begins about 8 km west of Ermelo, in Mpumalanga, with the takeoff accessible from both directions of TFR’s existing coal corridor to Richards Bay. It is situated in the Gert Sibande district municipality and traverses two local municipalities, Msukaligwa and Pixley Ka Seme.

Eskom says the project will yield lower life-cycle transportation costs, improve coal-delivery turnaround times and enable Majuba to access more coal sources.

Value
The cost of the project has increased from R5.2-billion to R6-billion.

Duration
The project was expected to take three years to complete, from May 2013 to May 2016, but Eskom has subsequently revised the project’s completion date to December 2017.

Latest Developments
The Majuba rail project has had to deal with several challenges since it started in 2013.

According to Majuba rail project communications and stakeholder management head Khululiwe Xulu, current challenges include several delays, owing to difficult site conditions, such as water seepage and mudrock, community unrest that affects the project’s workforce and some contractors’ issues that were resolved during the contractual process.

To date, about 40% of the project has been completed, with about 87% of the civil and earthworks physically completed, including the construction of a 300 m incremental launch bridge over the Vaal river, which was completed in July 2015.

The bridge was the most complex concrete structure to be built in the civil works package.

Eskom has yet to reach an agreement with TFR pertaining to its operational responsibilities in terms of the Majuba project, but Xulu says discussions are in progress and should be finalised soon.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Aveng Grinaker-LTA (main civil construction and earthworks).

On Budget and on Time?
No.

Contact Details for Project Information
Eskom media desk, tel +27 800 3304, fax +27 86 664 7699 or email mediadesk@eskom.co.za.
Eskom national call centre, tel 0860 037 566.
Aveng Grinaker-LTA, tel +27 11 578 6000, fax +27 11 578 6161 or email communications@grinaker-lta.co.za.