During January 2012, South Africa’s prestigious Blue Train was named the World’s top luxury express in 2011 – for the third consecutive year. And it wasn’t the first time a South African operation was recognised by the judges at World Travel Awards (WTA) – not by a long chalk.
Other nominations for 2011 were:
Eastern & Oriental [...]
Archives for News
HOW THE BLUE TRAIN TOPPED THE POPS
NO GAUTRAIN TO PARK STATION YET
It may be three more months before the Gautrain line to Park station from Rosebank becomes operational. Underground water seepage problems are the cause of the delay, which has put the scheduled completion date back by a year. Gautrain’s Errol Braithwaite explained to Eyewitness News on 25 January: “We are injecting grout to try and [...]
NAMIBIAN CABINET DISCUSSES RAIL CRISIS
During December 20111, the Namibian cabinet held a special meeting to discuss what was described in the press as the railway “crisis”, following four derailments that cost the country “millions”. Ministry of works permanent secretary George Simataa was quoted explaining that the entire Nanibian rail system – last reconstructed in the nineteen-fifties – requires [...]
PROPOSED NEW MOZAMBIQUAN PORT AND RAILWAY
The ITD Project, which envisages a new Mozambiquan port north of the Zambezi river mouth, would provide the shortest route to the Moatize coalfields in Tete province. The Ncondezi Coal Company has signed an agreement with Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique (RTCM) and Minas Revuboe on a deal that would provide the company with up to [...]
ETHIOPIAN LIGHT RAIL
According to Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) project manager Yehualashet Jemere, most of the preliminary work needed for the new light rail line has been completed and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), has begun construction in the vicinity of Meshualekia and Ayat Village in Addis Ababa.
ERC general manager Getachew Betru expects the first phase [...]
BOTSWANA COAL NEEDS ‘HEAVY GAUGE”
Coal mined in Botswana will have to be moved to the coast – for export to India or China – on a new “heavy gauge” railway independent of South Africa, according to Professor Roman Greynberg, senior research fellow at the Botswana Institute of Development Policy Analysis. Writing in the Zimbabwe Independent, he explains:“Cecil Rhodes’ [...]
MORE CLASS 43 DIESEL-ELECTRICS
From an official Transnet release:
Public Enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba has sealed an agreement for Transnet SOC Ltd’s purchase of an additional 43 locomotives from General Electric’s (GE) local arm, General Electric South Africa Technologies (Gesat). The agreement takes the total number of locomotives Transnet has bought from the manufacturer to 143.
Transnet group chief executive [...]
TANGA-MUSOMA PROJECT QUERIED
According to Sseesamirembe Eco-City: Lake Victoria Free Trade Zone company executive director Beenunula Nunumisa, the proposed Tanga-Musoma railway needs reconsideration. A better route, he says, would be Tanga- Singida-Mutukula-Kampala. This would be a continuous, unbroken railway, whereas the route to Uganda via Musoma would necessitate goods being transhipped to a ferry on Lake Victoria. [...]
SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH-SPEED AMBITIONS
It seems South Africa is serious about ambitions in the high-speed arena, though whether it understands “high speed” to mean Gautrain’s modest 160km/h or the genuine article (nearer 300km/h) as exemplified in countries like China, Japan, France and Spain is not exactly clear. Project no 1 concerns the Moloto Road north of Pretoria, on [...]
TRANSNET FREIGHT RAIL CLASS 38 ELECTRO-DIESEL
From RSSA Gauteng’s On Track:
Between 1992 and 1994 Spoornet placed fifty class 38-000 locomotives in service. They are still the only dual-powered electro-diesel locomotives in use by Transnet Freight Rail, capable of running either on 3kV electricity off the catenary or on diesel alone.
The class 38 was designed to replace steam on pickup work on [...]
