Name and Location
New Rolling Stock Procurement Programme, nationwide, South Africa.

Client
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

Project Description
The Department of Transport, through PRASA, is to invest in a new rail rolling stock fleet-renewal programme across South Africa.

The programme will upgrade and expand the current rail infrastructure by introducing new stock for commuter rail service Metrorail and by offering more routes between destinations in South Africa.

The aim is to replace the old fleet, which has reached the end of its design life.

As part of the procurement programme, PRASA aims to upgrade and construct fully functional modern maintenance depots at Braamfontein, Wolmerton, Salt River, Durban Yard and Springfield, which will support and service PRASA’s new metro trains by the time the first new train sets are delivered in the first quarter of 2015. The new depots will meet maintenance demand of the new, increased fleet and PRASA’s existing metro trains, until 2034.

The modernisation will mainly consist of the refurbishment or upgrade of selected existing buildings, the construction of additional operational buildings and the reconstruction of the staging yards. The initial phase of the works will include the demolition of selected existing buildings in preparation for the upgrade.

The upgrade will result in the introduction of the following technologies at the depots to optimise operational efficiencies:
• a new in-floor lifting system (synchronised retractable train-lifting jacks);
• a new universal lifting system, which allows for the synchronised lifting of different types of trains;
• an underfloor wheel lathe, which enables wheel-set profiling on site; and
• yard signalling, to allow for the efficient control of train movements within the yards.

Value
R123-billion.

An extra R14.5-billion will be invested in signalling, new depots, modern stations and integrated ticketing.

Duration
The 20-year procurement process will comprise two periods – the first ten-year contract will run from 2015 and the second from 2025.

The first new trains are expected for delivery in 2015.

Latest Developments
Construction of the Alstom-led Gibela consortium’s 600 000 m² Dunnottar manufacturing facility, in the Ekurhuleni metropolitan area of Gauteng, is set to start in mid-2015, later than the previously announced February 2015 construction start date.

Although the plans for the manufacturing facility are still “only in its paper phase”, several assessments are ongoing.

The facility will employ 1 500 permanent employees and between 20 000 and 30 000 people will be employed during the construction phase as contractors and subcontractors, with Gibela considering using people from the area.

Sixty of the 1 500 direct employees are already on board.

While the first 20 X’Trapolis MEtric GAuge (Mega) trains will be manufactured in Lapa, Brazil – with the first unit scheduled to enter service during the fourth quarter of 2015 – the local production of trains will start in July 2016.

The manufacturing facility will form part of a R1-billion, 75 ha business park, including a 36 ha integration site, which will result in 580 trains being manufactured over a ten-year period, with an expected manufacturing rate of 62 trains a year. The facility will also include a 10 ha bogie, traction and motor site, as well as a 25 ha supplier park for train component manufacturing.

The facility, which has been designed to the highest international environmental standards, will also include maintenance and engineering services, as well as a purpose-built training center. It is not yet known who will build the facility.

This facility forms part of the R51-billion, 18-year contract between the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and Gibela, with the latter to supply the Metrorail service with 600 trains, or 3 600 cars, as well as technical support and supply of spare parts.

Alstom Transport president Henri Poupart-Lafarge told journalists at a press conference during the biennial InnoTrans rail trade fair that the company did not just want to send trains, but to establish a manufacturing relationship in South Africa.

The Gibela contract is important to the country, as it will lead to significant skills transfer and development. Alstom has set aside R900-million for training purposes. “Through this, 19 527 people will be trained by 2015, as engineers, artisans, welders, technicians and train drivers.”

Currently, 12 South African engineers are learning train technology skills, for 18 months, and about 66% of Gibela staff have already been trained and orientated, in various disciplines, at Alstom Transport in France.

Further, the company notes that quality engineers and logistics personnel have already been trained.

Alstom, through Gibela, will be working from five maintenance depots, including Braamfontein and Wolmerton, in Gauteng; Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape; Salt River, in Cape Town; and Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal.

The depots will provide 24/7 fault-finding support, reliability engineers, controls and monitoring and material requirement planning.

Gibela is also establishing two repair centres for local repairs, minor overhauls and a local warehouse at Salt River and Durban.

Each depot will also house a number of trains, with 264 trains in Gauteng, 197 in Cape Town, 38 in Port Elizabeth and 101 in KwaZulu-Natal.

PRASA group executive of strategic asset development Piet Sebola told Engineering News Online at the conference that an additional R5-billion will be spent on modernising the five depots, to tie in with the signalling upgrades that will take place.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
KPMG, Gibb Engineering and Science, Interfleet Technology and Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS – feasibility study) and Gibela Rail Transportation, comprising Alstom and its black economic-empowerment equity partners (Phase 1 – rolling stock supply contract) and Siyahamba Engineering (manufacture of drivers’ cab doors for the first 200 PRASA trains).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
PRASA, Moffet Mofokeng, tel +27 12 748 7000 or email momofokeng@prasa.com.
KPMG corporate finance Walter Meyer, tel +27 21 408 7220 or email market.engagement@kpmg.co.za.
Gibb Engineering and Science, tel +27 11 519 4600 or fax +27 11 807 5670.
Interfleet Technology, tel +44 1332 223000 or fax +44 1332 223001.
ENS, tel +27 11 269 7600, fax +27 11 269 7899 or email info@ensafrica.com.
Alstom, tel +27 11 518 8100.
Gibela, Pamella Radebe, tel +27 11 518 8232 or email pamella.radebe@gibela-rail.com.
Siyahamba Engineering, tel +27 11 824 2183 or fax +27 11 824 3627.