South African engineering firm Delberg Engineering secured a contract last month for the manufacture and supply of piping-related work, such as handrails and hydraulic pipe systems, which will be fitted onto the locomotives and coaches being supplied to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa by the Gibela Rail Transportation consortium.

French multinational rail solutions provider Alstom is the majority shareholder of the consortium, which will manufacture and supply 600 of Alstom’s new X’Trapolis Mega passenger locomotives and 3 600 coaches from 2015 to 2025. Each locomotive has 60 wagons.

Delberg Engineering chairperson Edwin Dreyer tells Engineering News that tender applications for 60 locomotives of the R51-billion project opened in January this year.

“We submitted the tender application for the 60 units in February. Alstom, of France, contacted us and we discussed the 600 units mentioned in the accreditation application form. Consequently, Alstom informed Delberg Engineering that it had received the tender for all 600 units,” explains Dreyer.

Delberg Engineering has been successfully audited by Alstom to verify that it has the technical expertise and financial security to carry out the project safely and on time.

“Some of the aspects involved in the tender process include safety, experience, South African Bureau of Standards and International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) ratings, machinery and equipment, as well as financial security,” says Dreyer, noting that Delberg Engineering is ISO 9001-accredited.

He highlights that securing local content was one of the biggest challenges in winning the tender, as certain components, such as heat-treated steel, are not manufactured locally and need to be acquired either from local agents or directly from foreign suppliers.

Meanwhile, he notes that two companies – pipe-bending specialist and namesake Delberg Engineering and metals trader Corrotherm – amalgamated in September 2013 to form Delberg Engineering.

“The merger enabled the company to compete for large tenders, such as those incl- uded in State-owned freight rail company Transnet’s R307-billion market demand strategy to improve South Africa’s rail infrastructure,” notes Dreyer, who adds that a large sum has been invested in the company to ensure it does have the capacity to complete projects of this magnitude.