Africa – Page 33
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NewsTransnet secures US guarantee for GE loco financing
SOUTH AFRICA: Freight operator Transnet has secured a R6bn guarantee from the USA’s export credit agency to support the financing of 293 diesel locomotives which GE is to supply, including an order for 233 announced in March. Transnet said the Ex-Im Bank guarantee announced on August 6 would enable it ...
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NewsONCF awards GSM-R contract
MOROCCO: A consortium of Thales, Huawei and Imet has been awarded the first GSM-R deployment contract under national railway ONCF’s nine-year roll-out programme. The €30m contract announced on July 25 covers 712 km of the network, comprising four conventional routes where existing radio systems will be replaced with GSM-R as ...
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NewsRift Valley Railways capital investment plans
AFRICA: Kenya – Uganda railway concessionaire Rift Valley Railways plans to make capital investments totalling more than US$100m during the current year. On July 8 the operator announced the final US$69·6m drawdown from a US$164m debt facility which was raised from international financiers in 2011 to fund a US$287m five-year ...
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NewsHuawei awarded Addis Abeba light rail telecoms contract
ETHIOPIA: Huawei has been awarded a contract to provide its Mass Transit eLTE communications technology for the Addis Abeba light rail project. Huawei will provide fixed and wireless communications to support applications including telephony, SCADA, fare collection and IP-based video surveillance. The north–south and east–west lines totalling 31 km ...
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NewsUganda and Rwanda award standard gauge study contract
AFRICA: The governments of Uganda and Rwanda have jointly awarded German firm Gauff Ingenieure a contract to provide consultancy for the preliminary engineering design of a proposed standard gauge railway from Kampala in Uganda to Kigali in Rwanda. The route would parallel the existing metre-gauge Kampala – Kasese line as ...
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NewsAddis Abeba - Djibouti electric locomotives ordered
ETHIOPIA: A contract for CSR Zhuzhou to supply 35 electric locomotives for the future Addis Abeba – Djibouti standard gauge line was signed on June 19. Delivery of the three passenger locomotives and 32 freight locos able to haul trains of up to 4 000 tonnes will begin in October ...
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NewsILCAD 2014 targets professional drivers
INTERNATIONAL: Railway operators in more than 45 countries across the world are participating in the sixth International Level Crossing Awareness Day on June 3. The campaign is intended to raise public awareness of the safety risks surrounding level crossings, in order to change the behaviour of road users, including vehicle ...
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NewsCamrail launches Yaoundé – Douala InterCity express
CAMEROON: A non-stop passenger service linking Yaoundé to Douala was introduced on May 5, three days after an inauguration ceremony led by Prime Minister Philémon Yang and Bolloré Africa Logistics CEO Dominique Lafont. Bolloré’s railway concessionaire Camrail says the trains will offer ‘a level of comfort never previously available ...
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NewsMombasa - Nairobi standard gauge line funding agreed
KENYA: An agreement to finance the construction of a 609 km standard gauge railway between Mombasa and Nairobi was signed on May 11 by Cabinet Secretary for the Treasury Henry Rotich and the President of China Exim Bank, Li Ruogu. China Exim Bank is to meet 90% of the US$3·60bn ...
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NewsSétif starts to build tramway
ALGERIA: Construction of the Sétif tramway started on May 8. The line is being built by a consortium of Yapi Merkezi and Alstom under a 38bn dinar contract awarded in late 2013. Work is scheduled to take 40 months. The 22·4 km east-west line will link Sétif University with ...
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NewsNigerian Coastal Railway framework agreement signed
NIGERIA: The Federal Ministry of Transport and China Civil Engineering Construction Corp signed a framework agreement to go ahead with the Coastal Railway project on May 5. Detailed negotiations will now take place before the conclusion of a final construction contract, which the China Railway Construction Corp subsidiary estimates ...
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NewsCairo metro Line 3 extension opens
EGYPT: The second phase of Cairo metro Line 3 was inaugurated by Interim President Adly Mansour on May 7, accompanied by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and Transport Minister Ibrahim el-Demiri. The 7·7 km eastern extension links Abbasiya and Al Ahram in Heliopolis, with three intermediate stations. Construction started in ...
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NewsFinancial close on PRASA train order
SOUTH AFRICA: Alstom announced financial close on the €4bn contract for the supply of 600 X'Ttrapolis Mega commuter electric multiple-units to Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa on April 29. Financial close on the deal follows the signing on October 14 2013 of the contract covering the delivery of 3 ...
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NewsAlger tramway extends east
ALGERIA: Minister of Transport Amar Ghoul opened a 4·2 km extension of the Alger tram line on April 16. The new section runs east from Bordj El Kiffan to Café Chergui with six stops. Seven additional trams have been put into service on the extended line, which operates at 7 ...
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NewsONCF takes delivery of tank wagons
MOROCCO: National railway ONCF has taken delivery of 80 bogie tank wagons shipped from Constanta in Romania to Casablanca on two vessels chartered by Belgian specialist logistics company Polytra. The ships each carried 20 wagons in the hold and 20 on the deck. Specialist transport beds had to be ...
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NewsLocomotives reach Ethiopia by road
AFRICA: Five Chinese-built diesel locomotives for use on railway construction projects in Ethiopia have been delivered by road from the port of Djibouti by logistics company Steder Group FZCO. The locomotives weigh from 85 tonnes to 135 tonnes, and were carried on Steder Group's multi-axle trailers after being unloaded from ...
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NewsCNR Dalian locomotives exported to Ethiopia
ETHIOPIA: CNR Dalian is supplying three diesel locomotives for use by contractor China Civil Engineering Construction Corp during the construction of the standard gauge route which is to replace the out-of-use metre gauge line from Djibouti to Addis Abeba. The 2 940 kW locomotives have 16V240ZJD engines and a maximum ...
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NewsERTMS Regional contract in Zambia
ZAMBIA: A consortium of Bombardier Transportation, Huawei and local company GMC Technologies has been awarded a US$51m contract to deploy ERTMS Regional on Zambia Railway Ltd's 980 km Chingola - Livingstone line. The route is being upgraded and double-tracked using government funding allocated last year. Pioneered in Sweden, ERTMS Regional ...
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NewsAddis Abeba tram supplier selected
ETHIOPIA: CNR Corp announced on March 17 that it had been selected to supply 41 trams to Addis Abeba. The three-section 70% low-floor vehicles would have a minimum floor height of 350 mm and a maximum speed of 70 km/h. The first trams are to be delivered at the ...
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NewsSouth Africa's 'largest ever' locomotive order awarded to four suppliers
SOUTH AFRICA: Transnet announced the 'largest-ever loco supply contract in South Africa's history' on March 17. The country's 'single biggest infrastructure investment initiative by a corporate' comprises orders for four companies to supply a total of 1 064 locomotives worth R50bn. CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive is to supply 359 electric ...