Name and Location
Rail signalling system project, South Africa.

Client
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

Project Description
PRASA plans to implement a new technologically advanced rail signalling system on its commuter rail network to replace the old and often unreliable system. The company reports that nearly 80% of its existing signalling installations have become obsolete and the remainder is not able to fully support modern and safe railway operations.

The existing railway signalling system is a mixture of technologies from the 1930s to the 1980s and, in Gauteng, it depends on manual intervention when transferring a train from one control centre to another when the electronic system fails.

The project will include the modernisation of the rail signalling, communications and train management systems in high-volume corridors, such as Naledi, in Soweto, to Johannesburg; Pretoria to Johannesburg; Mabopane to Pretoria; Mamelodi to Pretoria; KwaMashu–Durban–Umlazi; Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Philippi to Cape Town; Kraaifontein–Bellville–Cape Town and Simon’s Town to Cape Town.

The new system will enhance operational capacity, allow better flexibility, improve safety and reduce train delays and reliance on the human factor.
The Gauteng Nerve Centre (GNC) will control all commuter traffic in Gauteng once construction has been completed.

Value
Total value of the signalling programme is estimated at R17-billion.

Siemens has been awarded the R1-billion contract for the Gauteng Phase 1 signalling programme and for the Gauteng Phase 2 signalling programme valued at R2.762-billion.

The KwaZulu-Natal new signalling contract is estimated at R1.4-billion and has been awarded to Bombardier Africa Alliance.

The Thales-Maziya consortium has been awarded the R1.87-billion contract to supply a new signalling solution to the Western Cape.

Duration
The project is scheduled for completion in 2018.

Latest Developments
Construction of the GNC, which will control all commuter rail traffic in Gauteng, is well under way, with the roof scheduled for completion in July.

The centre is located in Kaalfontein, near Kempton Park, in Johannesburg.

Multidisciplined turnkey rail engineering company Mehleketo director David van der Merwe notes that about eleven 25 m lattice trusses will be used in the construction of the roof, which started in June this year.

Electronics and electrical engineering group Siemens Southern Africa infrastructure and cities senior project manager Lucio Lefebvre adds that construction of the offices and the GNC crisis centre is also well under way.

The power transformer and the medium- and low-voltage switchgears have also been installed in the nearby service building, which will also house two 800 kVA rotary uninterrupted power supplies (UPSes).

“The UPSes will be powered by two V16 Cummins diesel engines, which have been delivered to our supplier, diesel generator supplier Diesel Electric Services, by the Belgium manufacturer Euro-Diesel,” Lefebvre says, adding that the UPSes were tested in Europe in February.

There have been several delays to construction of the GNC, as three separate sites, owned by PRASA, had to be consolidated.

More delays followed after an environmental- impact study by consulting engineering firm MottMacDonald PDNA had been concluded and approved in December 2011. It was found that there were high levels of dolomite in the soil of the construction site, which has strict legislative requirements concerning construction and water drainage methods. Dolomite dissolves when exposed to water and combined with carbon dioxide, result in sinkholes.

The dolomite conditions also affected other facets of the project, including the structural design of the building and the subsurface drainage, water and wastewater systems.

Following the successful compaction of the soil, first concrete was poured in October 2013.

Lefebvre notes that Midway station, in Soweto, and Lenz station, in Lenasia, are currently in the testing phase. Siemens and independent tester, consulting engineering firm Hatch Goba, are conducting testing of the signalling at the two stations.

All the equipment was expected to go to site towards the end of June, which would be followed by final on-site testing. Once the safety validation for the software had been completed, installation at the two stations would proceed.

The Gauteng resignalling project comprises two projects, Gauteng Phase 1 and Phase 2, which, once completed, will result in eight sites being transformed into centralised satellite traffic control (CTC) centres. The CTC centres will be responsible for rail traffic within the surrounding areas of a given station.

“These satellite CTC centres will come into operation during various phases of the project and will be transferred to the GNC in a phased approach once each satellite CTC centre is complete,” Lefebvre explains.

For business continuity, should the GNC for some reason not be able to operate, control can be reverted back to the satellite CTC centres to maintain operation of the train service.

The first CTC centre, Midway station, is scheduled for completion in April next year, with the final CTC centre scheduled for completion near the end of the resignalling project, in October 2018.

Meanwhile, outdoor signalling work is currently under way at nine different stations, five of which will soon be completed following the connection of all the necessary electronic interlocking. Outdoor work includes trenching, recabling, installation of signalling, axle counters, points machines, overhead track electrification and track works.

Points machines are currently installed at only two sites because changing the points machines too soon can impact on rail operations, as these will need to interface with existing interlockings.
Key Contracts and Suppliers
Siemens South Africa (supply of rail signalling system and GNC – Gauteng); Thales-Maziya (supply of rail signalling system – Western Cape); Bombadier Africa Alliance, comprising Bombardier Transportation, ERB Technologies, Basil Read, Bakara Engineering, R&H Railway Consultants, SIMS and Tractionel (supply of rail signalling system – KwaZulu-Natal) and Huawei (digital radio communications system).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
PRASA, Moffet Mofokeng, tel +27 12 748 7000 or email momofokeng@prasa.com.
Siemens Africa infrastructure and cities sector Keshin Govender, tel +27 11 652 2146 or email sithembile.mokaeane@siemens.com; or Rolf Huber, tel +27 11 652 2000 or email rolf.huber@siemens.com.
Bombardier Transportation, Sandy Roth, tel +49 30 98607 1147.
Thales, Victoire Chartier, tel +33 1 57 77 90 22 or email victoire.chartier@thalesgroup.com.