Gibela train manufacturing facility construction to start in early 2015

26th September 2014

By: Megan van Wyngaardt

Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

  

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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 early 2015.

On February 28, the land will be handed over from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and Gibela, with the sod-turning ceremony expected to take place in March.

Speaking to Engineering News Online on the sidelines of the InnoTrans fair and conference, in Berlin, Germany, this week, Alstom Transport Middle East and Africa senior VP Gian-Luca Erbacci said that, although the plans for the manufacturing facility were still “only in its paper phase”, a number of assessments were ongoing.

This includes the environmental impact assessment and township establishment processes. The Gibela plant will comply with local legislation and with international standards in terms of safety, environmental standards and energy saving. The company notes that it will usher in new technical skills for its employees and state-of-the-art technology that will "bestow a lasting legacy for the neighbouring community and South Africa at large".

He pointed out that the facility will employ 1 500 permanent employees and that between 20 000 and 30 000 people will be employed during the construction phase as contractors and subcontractors. “We are looking to use people from the area,” he noted.

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

The first 20 X’Trapolis MEtric GAuge (Mega) trains will be manufactured in Lapa, Brazil with these trains scheduled for delivery in South Africa  during the last quarter of 2015. The trains will then undergo rigorous testing and validation prior to certification and approval by the customer before going into revenue service in 2016.

The manufacturing facility will form part of a R1-billion, 75 ha business park, including a 36 ha integration site, which will see 580 trains 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. Erbacci would not disclose who would build the facility.

This facility forms part of the R51-billion, 18-year contract between 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 does not “just want to send trains. We want to establish a manufacturing relationship in South Africa. We are looking to shape the railway industry in the country”.

Skills Development
Alstom Transport South Africa MD Yvan Eriau noted that the Gibela contract is important to the country, as it will lead to significant skills transfer and development. The company 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.

A Story of Proximity
To reach its goal of having a local presence in the country, 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 setting up 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.

Gibela CEO Marc Granger said in a statement that buyers and supplier quality teams from Gibela continue their interactions with several South African companies in an effort to strengthen the company’s supply chain in order to fulfil the 65% local content requirements of the contract.

To this end, more than 100 South African suppliers have already been preselected for potential vetting and further negotiations and letters of intent and contracts for certain components have been signed.

Some of these components and in particular, steel, are being used in the manufacture of the first trains in Brazil. "Gibela remains committed to fulfilling its local content requirements for the rolling stock project and to even exceeding it once manufacturing reaches a stable pace. This, however, does not rule out the possibility of having non-South African suppliers involved in the supply of components and parts, the local manufacture of which may not be commercially viable," he noted.

“Our supply chain management and development strategy is multi-pronged and wherever possible, we will include local companies on a joint venture basis,” Granger concluded.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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