Name of the Project
PRASA New Rolling Stock Acquisition Programme.

Location
South Africa.

Client
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

Project Description
PRASA and Gibela signed the Manufacture and Supply Agreement and Technical Support and Spares Supply Agreement (which governs the maintenance of the new trains) in October 2013 as part of its New Rolling Stock Acquisition Programme. The Gibela consortium is led by Alstom Southern Africa, with the participation of local companies Ubumbano Rail and New Africa Rail.

The programme involves the acquisition of 7 224 new rail vehicles and will be rolled out in two ten-year phases.

The first ten years will involve the supply of 600 new trains comprising 3 600 coaches, with the remainder to be manufactured over another ten years.

The first 20 trains will be manufactured in Brazil, with the remainder to be manufactured in South Africa, where Gibela is building a 600 000 m² plant in Dunnottar, 50 km from Johannesburg. The plant includes a 4 000 m² training centre which, at peak production, will produce about 62 trains a year. 

Each train will comprise six cars capable of transporting more than 1 300 passengers. The trains will travel at speeds of up to 120 km/h and could be upgraded to travel 160 km/h.

PRASA modernisation programme
In support of the acquisition programme, PRASA has embarked on a major modernisation programme aimed at updating all rail infrastructure, in line with the new trains. 

The modernisation includes the design and construction of the Wolmerton and Braamfontein depots, in Gauteng, and three other depots in the rest of the country; station modernisation; a rolling stock refurbishment programme; and perway, bridges, infrastructure and signalling upgrades.

Potential Job Creation
The project will create 65 000 direct and indirect jobs.

The project has, to date, provided 200 bursaries in fields varying from engineering to accounting, as well as 65 learnerships in disciplines such as fitting and welding. The project also houses 270 apprentices.

Value
PRASA plans to invest R172-billion from 2013/14 to 2023.

The manufacturing contracts are valued at R123.5-billion.

The medium-term expenditure framework for the depot modernisation is estimated at R3.1-billion.

Duration
The programme will be undertaken over 20 years.

Latest Developments
PRASA strategic asset development group executive Piet Sebola has said that commuters using the 18 new X’Ttrapolis Mega commuter trains, supplied by Gibela to PRASA, are “extremely happy” with the new rolling stock.

The first of the new trains, built in and imported from Brazil, are currently running on a 23 km line between Pienaarspoort and Pretoria.

He is hopeful that the 18 trains will also service the Atteridgeville–Pretoria line by the second quarter of 2018, followed by the Johannesburg–Pretoria line.

PRASA will receive its first new locally manufactured train from the Gibela factory, still under construction in Gauteng, by the end of 2018.

Several of the first new trains from the local plant will be deployed in early 2019 to the Western Cape, where the PRASA service is struggling with rolling stock availability.

Sebola emphasises that the immediate focus is to respond to the Western Cape rolling stock challenges.

PRASA still has some work to do, however, in preparation for the 62 trains a year it will receive from Gibela’s factory at peak production.

One significant challenge PRASA faces is that its platforms are too low for the new rolling stock, an issue that PRASA has been aware of from the start of the new rolling stock programme.

The project to lift the platforms at stations, however, has not been progressing as expected, Sebola has noted.

“We can’t work at the pace we want to, as we have to shut down the station completely and, in some cases, the entire rail corridor too. It seems almost impossible to find a solution that doesn’t inconvenience our customers. Our customers are insisting that we are the only transport service they can afford. However, any closure of a service to undertake these works impacts them negatively in the short run, but certainly has greater benefit in the long run.

“The project has also proved to be quite challenging technically speaking, as lifting the platform means a complete reconfiguration of the station.”

Sebola acknowledges that PRASA has one year before the new rolling stock starts arriving in volume, with the State-owned enterprise facing the large-scale roll-out of the new trains across the country from 2019.
PRASA’s depots are being prepared to receive the new rolling stock. The first phase of work at the Wolmerton depot, in Pretoria, has been completed, with the second phase under way.

The tender to modernise the Braamfrontein depot, in Johannesburg, is awaiting adjudication. This depot should be ready by August 2018, Sebola has said.

The Salt River depot, in the Western Cape, is scheduled to be ready in early 2019.

Station modernisation work within PRASA’s network in 2018 – as the bare minimum – will include improved ablution facilities, look and feel, lighting, accessibility and safety.

Ensuring improvement of the track conditions is also on Sebola’s list of must-do’s before the new rolling stock is deployed, as well as stable power supply.

Signalling systems in PRASA’s three main regions – Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – are also being upgraded in a multibillion-rand project.

Work on the Gauteng system is 50% complete, with work 66% complete in the Western Cape. In KwaZulu-Natal work is 59% complete.

Meanwhile, old and new rolling stock have been subjected to vandalism, with a number of new trains already having lost their windows. Copper cable theft also remains a persistent problem. “Although we are minimising the use of copper, we can’t do away with copper cables entirely,” Sebola has lamented.

He has indicated that the long-term solutions to vandalism and cable theft are to improve security around the rail reserve and build stronger partnerships with law enforcement agencies, as well as to educate commuters and the broader community on the use of the rolling stock to the benefit of all users.

PRASA will soon start fencing off the rail service, with CCTV cameras to be deployed in selected areas.

Sebola has indicated that there are 2 300 km of rail network to fence off, but that the parastatal knows where the hotspots are, which will be prioritised.

A 27 ha component supplier park is also envisaged. When the Gibela project was conceived, it was envisaged that this would be built next to the train factory. The design for the supplier park has been completed.

It forms part of a broader concept to create a railway industrial complex in Dunnottar.

PRASA and Gibela are currently negotiating a finance agreement with various financial institutions, including the Industrial Development Corporation, for the construction of the supplier park, Sebola has said.

He believes that the financing agreement will be completed by the end of February. “Then we’ll have to see some fast-track work to start construction on the first phase of the park. We’ll build more phases as demand increases.”

Sebola says seven component suppliers have shown an interest in establishing their plants within the supplier park.”

Ubumbano has been tasked with developing the supplier park once financing has been secured.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Gibela, led by Alstom Southern Africa, with the participation of local companies Ubumbano Rail and New Africa Rail (600 X’Ttrapolis Mega trains). The local suppliers to Gibela include Siyahamba Engineering (cabin doors, and interiors, including partition walls); Booyco Engineering (saloon heaters, driver footrests); ILVA  General Engineering (air tank reservoirs); KAMA Industries (horns); Profibre (passenger seats and longitudinal benches); KARE Industrial (battery boxes); First National Battery (batteries); Denel (baseboard ducts); Global Composite (luggage racks, equipped ceiling, cab and saloon air ducts); Delberg Engineering & Quality Systems (handbars and backrests); Radél (passenger and cab lighting, door-light and voltage indicators); Gibb (insulation); Crest Information Systems (door external fairing, extract air duct in cubicles); Laser Junction (brackets, cab foot steps); Laser Junction/General Profiling Matla Steel (coupler push backs); Laser Junction/SPE (tool boxes); Jandinox (equipment support); Buzas (obstacle deflectors); Columbus Stainless/Macsteel (stainless steel); ArcelorMittal South Africa/Macsteel (carbon steel); LED Lighting SA (external front/cab lighting); Aberdare Cables (cables and wires) and Forminox (piping).

On Budget and on Time?
Yes.

Contact Details for Project Information
PRASA, Nana Zenani, tel +27 83 297 5905 or email nzenani@prasa.com.
Gibela communications director Pamella Radebe email pamella.radebe@gibela-rail.com.