TRANSNET has made an application to the high court of South Africa seeking to compel CRRC to make available spare parts for the freight operator’s class 20E and class 21E electric locomotives.
The application seeks an urgent hearing to secure the immediate release of parts and components imported by the Chinese rolling stock manufacturer’s South African subsidiary CRRC E-Loco Supply.
Transnet says that the application also provides “for the amount due by Transnet to CRRC for such spares, if anything, to be determined in due course.”
The parts are needed for 53 class 20E and 67 class 21E locomotives, which Transnet says have been out of service for a lengthy period of time due to its inability to access the required spare parts and components.
Release of the spare parts will also contribute to the timely maintenance of these two fleets, Transnet says.
In 2012 Transnet ordered 95 dual-voltage (3kV dc/25kV ac) class 20E locomotives from CRRC Zhuzhou. The first 10 were manufactured in China and the remainder in South Africa, including 10 supplied in kit form and assembled by Transnet.
The first dual-voltage class 21E was completed in 2014 by CRRC Zhuzhou, which built the first 40 of Transnet’s order for 100 locomotives. The remainder were built in South Africa.
