Africa – Page 26
-
News
GE signs 'holistic' agreement to supply 100 locos to Egypt
EGYPT: The Ministry of Transport and Egyptian National Railways have signed a US$575m letter of intent for GE to supply 100 Evolution Series mixed-traffic locomotives. Training of more than 275 staff and the provision of 15 years of support and spare parts for the state railway’s existing and future GE ...
-
NewsThales wins Cairo metro ticketing contract
EGYPT: The National Authority for Tunnels signed two fare collection contracts for the Cairo metro with Thales on June 10. A five-year project covers 15 stations on the western Phase 3 extension of Line 3, and the other contract is for the four stations of the Phase 4B eastern ...
-
NewsGabon takes delivery of refurbished DB Regio coaches
GABON: Coaches formerly used by DB Regio in Germany are being refurbished by Electroputere VFU Pașcani in Romania for use on Libreville – Franceville overnight services operated by Sociéte d'Exploitation du Transgabonais. The first batch of nine vehicles was shipped at the end of May and is expected to arrive ...
-
NewsVale anticipates fuel saving from Trip Optimizer
BRAZIL: Vale expects to make significant fuel savings by deploying GE Transportation’s Trip Optimizer automated cruise control system across 114 locomotives used on the Estrada de Ferro Carajás heavy haul network. Pilot tests are also expected to start shortly on the Vitória a Minas network, and on the Nacala Corridor ...
-
NewsMombasa – Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway opened
KENYA: President Uhuru Kenyatta officially opened the 472 km Standard Gauge Railway between the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa and Nairobi on May 31, travelling on the inaugural Madaraka Express passenger service. The previous evening he had launched an inaugural freight train from Port Reitz in Mombasa, waving a giant ...
-
NewsPreferred bidder for Nigerian upgrade
NIGERIA: A consortium led by GE of the USA has been confirmed by the government as preferred bidder for a concession to rehabilitate, finance and operate the 3 505 km Nigeria Railway Corp network, GE announced on May 25. Also comprising Chinese construction company SinoHydro, Transnet of South Africa and ...
-
NewsONCF hosts African safety summit
AFRICA: Senior industry leaders from railways in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia gathered in Rabat on May 15 for an 11-day training summit hosted by Moroccan national railway ONCF.The safety training summit is the fifth such event to be held in Rabat ...
-
NewsNacala Corridor officially inaugurated
MOZAMBIQUE: President Filipe Nyusi joined celebrations at the deepwater port of Nacala-a-Velha on May 12 to mark the formal completion of the project to develop a 912 km ‘integrated logistics corridor’ serving northern Mozambique, southern Malawi and the Moatize coalfield. This encompassed the rehabilitation of existing lines and the construction ...
-
NewsX’Trapolis Mega EMUs enter revenue service
SOUTH AFRICA: The first 13 X’Trapolis Mega electric multiple-units for Metrorail commuter routes entered revenue service on the Pretoria suburban network on May 9 after being unveiled by President Jacob Zuma. ‘This is the beginning of the revival of passenger rail after 40 years of underinvestment.’ ...
-
NewsCRRC to build North American wagon plant in Canada
CANADA: Chinese rolling stock manufacturing group CRRC announced on May 5 that it plans to open a factory at Moncton in New Brunswick to produce wagons and braking systems for the North American market. The plant would be a joint venture between Sichuan-based wagon builder CRRC Meishan, a CRRC subsidiary ...
-
NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Gabon has become the first African country to ratify the Luxembourg Rail Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment. ABB and IBM have announced a strategic collaboration to bring together ABB Ability data capture and IBM Watson artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities for ...
-
NewsPresident launches construction of Tanzanian standard gauge line
TANZANIA: Construction of a 207 km standard gauge line linking Dar es Salaam with Morogoro is set to get underway on May 5, following the ceremonial launch of work by President John Magufuli in Pogo on April 12. The line is to be built by a joint venture of ...
-
NewsLoco ‘designed, engineered and manufactured in Africa’ unveiled
SOUTH AFRICA: What national freight group Transnet says is the ‘first locomotive to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Africa’ was unveiled by South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria on April 4. The Trans-Africa Locomotive was developed by Transnet’s manufacturing division Transnet Engineering and assembled at its plant in ...
-
NewsMauritius light rail work begins
MAURITIUS: Preparatory work started on a light rail line on March 20, following a foundation stone laying ceremony on March 11. Preparatory works are expected to last three months. The 26 km Metro Express line would link Port Louis with Curepipe, serving 19 stops with an end-to-end journey time ...
-
NewsRail industry marks International Women's Day 2017
INTERNATIONAL: The railway operations and supply industries around the world marked International Women's Day on March 8. Special events were organised, and the diverse range of career opportunities available in the rail sector was highlighted.
-
NewsGautrain expansion study completed
SOUTH AFRICA: A feasibility study for the expansion of the Gautrain network has been completed by the Gautrain Management Agency and submitted to the Gauteng provincial and national treasuries as well as major stakeholders. GMA commissioned the study in October 2014 from the SMEC Consortium of SMEC South Africa, ...
-
News‘Modernisation, movement and beauty’ of Algeria’s future inter-city trainsets
ALGERIA: National railway SNTF and Alstom have revealed the final design for the 17 Coradia Polyvalent electro-diesel multiple-units which are under construction in France for use on inter-city services between Alger, Oran, Annaba, Constantine and Béchar from January 2018. The SNTF units will be similar to the Coradia Polyvalent units ...
-
NewsNairobi moves ahead with transport plans
KENYA: President Uhuru Kenyatta issued an executive order on February 9 creating the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority. Covering the counties of Nairobi City, Kiambu, Kajiado, Machakos and Murang’a, NMATA aims to formulate a ‘sustainable integrated public transport strategy’ based on bus rapid transit and commuter rail routes. It ...
-
NewsKano light rail contract signed
NIGERIA: Kano state’s Ministry of Works, Housing & Transport has signed the commercial contract for the construction of a four-line light rail system in the city of Kano, China Railway Construction Corp announced on February 11. The US$1·85bn contract was signed by the state government and a consortium of ...
-
NewsTatra-Yug to supply trams to Alexandria
EGYPT: Alexandria Passenger Transportation Authority signed a contract on February 6 for Tatra-Yug to supply 15 trams. The Ukrainian manufacturer beat Stadler and CRRC to win the order; three other bidders did not make it to the second round. To be used on Alexandria’s 32 km standard gauge network, ...