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 are not able to fully support modern and safe railway operations.

The existing 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 from Simon’s Town to Cape Town.

The new system will enhance operational capacity, allow for 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
PRASA officially launched the GNC in Kaalfontein, Tembisa, on October 5, ushering in the latest investment to upgrade and modernize the country’s ailing public rail transport network.

The newly built centre, which will become fully operational early next year, will enable PRASA rail operators to monitor all passenger train activities in Gauteng, introduce new technology to allow for resignalling of subprojects, automatic train routing, train tracking and routing, event logging, close-circuit television access at stations, as well as an error detection and notification system.

The centre will also house PRASA’s rail maintenance and will, once fully operational, become the “eye” overlooking PRASA’s rail network.

The GNC concept evolved following the undertaking of two feasibility studies on the establishment of a centralised rail operating control centre for the Metrorail Witwatersrand region.

The resultant reports deemed it feasible to merge the management of rail networks in the province’s Witwatersrand and Tshwane regions, resulting in the establishment of a province-wide signalling hub.

PRASA hopes the GNC will go some way towards tackling the challenges of the province’s rail infrastructure, much of which has reached the end of its design life, and is beset with low levels of reliability, predictability and high maintenance costs, rendering it unable to support the province’s overarching transformation, modernisation and reindustrialisation agenda.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Siemens South Africa (supply of rail signalling system and GNC – Gauteng); Thales-Maziya (supply of rail signalling system – Western Cape); Bombardier 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); Siemens and Hatch Goba (rail signalling testing); Huawei (digital radio communications system); Mott MacDonald PDNA (environmental-impact study); Mehleketo (roof construction) and Diesel Electric Services.

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.