John Batwell

ZIMBABWE’s Ministry of Transport is trying to negotiate a partnership deal with Transnet, South Africa, while the government is in talks with the Development Bank of South Africa to help fund the rehabilitation of Zimbabwe’s 2583km rail network, although previous negotiations with the bank came to nothing.

NAMIBIA's state-owned railway TransNamib is seeking to acquire 21 secondhand GE U20C diesel locomotives following problems with new Chinese-built motive power.

PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) CEO Mr Mosenngwa Mofi attended the unveiling of the first Vossloh Euro 4000 diesel locomotive for the agency's long-distance main line services at a ceremony in Cape Town on December 1.

TRANSNET Engineering has begun assembling a third batch of 91 1067mm-gauge GE type C30ACi diesel-electric locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) at its Koedoespoort workshops near Pretoria.

TRANSNET Rail Engineering (TRE) has begun assembling class 20E electric locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail at its Koedoespoort facility near Pretoria following the delivery of the first batch of 10 units from China.

RIFT Valley Railways (RVR), the concessionaire which operates the 1900km metre-gauge network in Kenya and Uganda, has announced capital investment will exceed $US 100m this year.

EMD has secured four separate orders to supply locomotives to customers in Africa.

ARCELORMITTAL Liberia (AML) took delivery last month of six additional ES44AC locomotives from GE, which will supplement the existing fleet of three GE units and enable the operation of 140-wagon trains on the 243km line linking the Tokadeh iron-ore mine with the port of Buchanan.

SOUTH Africa's Treasury is being blamed for a four-month delay in concluding the country's largest rolling stock contract and for putting a cap on the total cost which could reduce the number of commuter trains being acquired.

CONGO National Railways (SNCC) has awarded a contract to China CNR Corportation for the supply of 18 diesel-electric locomotives.