Africa – Page 31
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NewsAfrica’s first high speed train delivered
MOROCCO: The first of 12 Alstom Duplex high speed trainsets for national railway ONCF was unloaded at the Port of Tanger on June 29. It had been shipped from the Port of La Pallice near La Rochelle in France onboard Ville de Bordeaux, a roll-on roll-off vessel custom-built to carry ...
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NewsTransnet signs R2·8bn locomotive loan
SOUTH AFRICA: A R2·8bn loan agreement was signed by freight operator Transnet and Germany’s KfW Development Bank on June 22. Transnet is to use the proceeds to fund the acquisition of 240 Bombardier Transportation electric locomotives it has ordered as part of its programme to acquire 1 064 locomotives from ...
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NewsBenin passenger service to launch this year
BENIN: President Thomas Bony Yayi joined Vincent Bolloré, CEO of railway concessionaire Bolloré Group, to officially launch the rehabilitation of the 25 km metre gauge Cotonou – Pahou line on June 2. The project includes complete replacement of the track and the rehabilitation of the stations at Cadjèhoun Saint-Jean, Godomey, ...
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NewsTanzanian standard gauge contracts announced
TANZANIA: A Chinese consortium led by China Railway Materials has been awarded a US$7·6bn contract to build a 2 561 km standard gauge railway from Dar es Salaam to Burundi and Rwanda, Minister of Transport Samuel Sitta told parliament on May 30. Construction could be formally launched within weeks Sitta ...
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NewsTransnet and China Development Bank sign R30bn locomotive loan
SOUTH AFRICA: State-owned freight transport company Transnet signed a R30bn loan agreement with China Development Bank on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Cape Town on June 4. The loan is part of a bilateral memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries’ presidents last December. The proceeds ...
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NewsIneco studies Cairo - Luxor high speed line
EGYPT: Spanish state-owned engineering consultancy Ineco announced on May 27 that it is to carry out a feasibility study for building a high speed line between Cairo and Luxor. According to Ineco, this 600 km route between the country’s two principal cities would be major addition to Egypt’s tourist infrastructure. ...
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NewsFirst X’Trapolis Mega cars completed at Lapa
SOUTH AFRICA: The first two completed cars for the 600 X’Trapolis Mega commuter electric multiple-units ordered by Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa have been rolled out at Alstom’s Lapa factory in Brazil. Planned to be a mix of six-car and four-car formations totalling 3 600 vehicles, the trainsets are ...
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NewsAlgerian tram plant inaugurated
ALGERIA: The CITAL joint venture of Alstom, Entreprise du métro d’Alger and Ferrovial officially inaugurated its tram assembly and maintenance plant in Annaba on May 12. The joint venture was created in 2011 to assemble and maintain Alstom Citadis trams for Algerian cities. The 46 000 m2 site currently ...
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NewsOgun State Intercity Rail Mass Transit agreement signed
NIGERIA: A contract for the construction of a 334 km rail network in the southwestern state of Ogun was signed by the state government and China Railway Construction Corp’s China Civil Engineering Construction Co Nigeria subsidiary of on April 27. The cost of the Nigeria Ogun State Intercity Rail ...
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NewsGrindrod locos delivered to Douala
CAMEROON: Railway concessionaire Camrail, owned by Bolloré Africa Logistics, has taken delivery of two CC 3300 locomotives at the port of Douala. Representing an investment of FrCFA3bn each, the locomotives were supplied by South African manufacturer Grindrod as part of an initial batch of eight diesel heavy freight locos which ...
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NewsGhana studies light rail and inter-city PPPs
GHANA: The minister responsible for public-private partnerships, Dr Rashid Pelpuo, has appointed New York investment bank Chesterfield Faring to devise a request for proposals for PPP contracts to develop a light rail line in Accra and an inter-city link between the capital and Kumasi. The elevated light rail line would ...
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NewsCNR delivers locomotives to DR Congo
DR CONGO: A batch of 18 CNR Beijing February 7 Railway Transport Equipment Co Type CKD8C1 diesel-electric locomotives ordered by national railway company SNCC was shipped from the Chinese port of Tianjin on April 8. The new locomotives were procured as part of the Multimodal Transport Project, which was launched ...
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NewsCustom-built crane wagon for Africa
WAGON: A wagon for carrying a heavy road crane to the sites of infrastructure works or derailments on a line in Africa has been designed by Belgian company DAXI and built by Electroputere VFU Pașcani of Romania. The 1 435 mm gauge wagon is 23·58 m long over the buffers, ...
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NewsAlgerian coach refurbishment contract confirmed
ALGERIA: National railway SNTF has confirmed a €75m contract for a consortium of Faiveley Transport and Compin to modernise 202 main line and suburban coaches. On March 26 consortium leader Faiveley said it had a €45m share of the contract, including the supply of doors as well as heating, ...
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NewsKapsch CarrierCom signs Algerian telecoms agreement
ALGERIA: National railway SNTF and Austrian telecoms company Kapsch CarrierCom signed an agreement on April 1 establishing the Rail-Telecom joint venture to supervise and maintain railway telecommunications networks. This will include Algeria’s GSM-R network and SDH optic fibre backbone, as well as future infrastructure projects. Rail-Telecom will also facilitate ...
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NewsRift Valley Railways getting back on track
AFRICA: Four years after the restructuring of the Kenya-Uganda Railway concession, Rift Valley Railways announced in March that it had achieved all three of the Key Performance Indicators agreed with the two governments when the current shareholders took over. The first two targets involved clearing the outstanding concession fees and ...
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NewsGE to supply 100 locomotives to Angola
ANGOLA: GE Transportation announced on March 27 that it had signed a contract to supply Instituto Nacional Dos Caminhos de Ferro Angola with 100 C30ACi locomotives. The six-axle 1 067 mm gauge diesel-electric locomotives with 12 cylinder 3 000 hp FDL-series engines are to be manufactured at GE’s Erie ...
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NewsTransnet finalises locomotive financing deals
SOUTH AFRICA: On March 2 national freight operator Transnet issued an update on the contracts for the supply of 1 064 locomotives which it awarded in March 2014, and announced financing packages worth R13bn for the locos to be supplied by GE and Bombardier. Transnet Group CEO Brian Molefe said ...
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NewsCairo Line 3 Phase 4 contracts awarded
EGYPT: The National Authority for Tunnels has signed contracts for fit-out and signalling for the 5·7 km Phase 4A eastern extension of Cairo metro Line 3 to Cairo International Airport. The infrastructure contract was awarded to a consortium of Alstom, Colas Rail, Orascom and Arabco. Alstom has an €80m ...
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NewsFoundation stone laid for northern Ethiopia line
ETHIOPIA: Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn laid a ceremonial foundation stone for the Mek'ele – Weldiya/Hara Gebeya railway project on February 18. The 220 km electrified mixed-traffic route is being built by China Communications Construction Co under a US$1·5bn contract. At Weldiya it will connect with future lines south to ...