THE Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has awarded a Rand 51bn ($US 5.7bn) contract to the Gibela Rail Transport consortium led by Alstom to supply 3600 commuter rail emu cars.
ZAMBIA Railways Limited (ZRL) has appointed a new CEO and launched a three-year programme of reforms and rehabilitation with the aim of reversing the decline of one of southern Africa's largest railways.
PASSENGER Rail Authority of South Africa (Prasa) has awarded engineering company Gibb a Rand 63m ($US 7m) four-year contract to provide technical support and supervision services for the Durban area resignalling project.
TRANSNET signed a Rand 2.6bn ($US 298m) contract with CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive, China, on October 22 for 95 dual-voltage electric locomotives, which are being ordered as part of a massive investment in railfreight capacity in South Africa.
SWAZILAND Railways, Transnet, and Mott MacDonald South Africa have formed a project team to advance plans for the Rand 15.9bn ($US 1.85m) Swazilink connection between Lothair in South Africa's Mpumalanga province and Sidvokodvo, Swaziland.
TANZANIA Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) has entered negotiations with SMH Rail, Malaysia, over the rehabilitation of locomotives and wagons as part of an effort to ease the railway's chronic stock shortage.
ACTOM Signalling recently completed a Rand 83m ($US 10.1m) signalling upgrade on a 480km section of the Johannesburg - Durban mainline from Union Junction near Germiston to Cedara near Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal. Altogether 92 stations were involved.
IN preparation for the opening of the new manganese export terminal at the Port of Ngqura, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has carried out a series of tests on the Hotazel to Port Elizabeth line evaluating the performance of 208-wagon trains with distributed traction.
JUST DAYS after Zambia's president announced a review of the Railway Systems of Zambia (RSZ) concession, the government has announced it will revoke the contract with New Limpopo Bridge Projects Investment.
ZAMBIAN president Mr Michael Sata has directed the country's newly-appointed justice minister Mr Wynter Kabimba to launch a review of the freight and passenger concession agreement involving the government, Railway Systems of Zambia (RSZ) and New Limpopo Bridge Projects Investment, which was signed in 2003.