SOUTH African private rail freight company Traxtion has announced that it will invest Rand 3.4bn ($US 197m) in 1067mm-gauge rolling stock. The company is responding to the South African government-led rail reform programme that is opening up the country’s rail freight market to private operators.
Traxtion’s investment includes 46 second-hand Wabtec diesel-electric locomotives acquired from KiwiRail in New Zealand for Rand 1.8bn. The fleet comprises 42 type U26C locomotives, which have been partly refurbished, and four type C30-8MMI 2.5MW units, which have been fully refurbished. Traxtion says all locomotives have been well maintained and are in good running order.
The company will work with Wabtec to upgrade the U26C locomotives to the C30 specification, which will involve replacing the engines with new, fuel-efficient 7FDL-EFI models and introducing advanced Brightstar control systems to improve performance and reliability. Continuous tractive effort will increase from 218kN to 240kN at 29km/h and fuel efficiency is expected to improve by around 15%. All refurbishment work will take place at Traxtion’s rail services hub in Rosslyn, Pretoria.
The 46 locomotives will be delivered to South Africa in four batches between April 2026 and August 2027. Each batch of 10 to 12 locomotives will undergo a four-month refurbishment cycle, including engine and control system upgrades, a major six-yearly service and full repainting. The first refurbished locomotives will enter service in the third quarter of 2026 and the refurbishment programme is due to be completed in early 2028.
Traxtion will also acquire a fleet of approximately 920 wagons for Rand 1.6bn, which it expects to source from South African manufacturers. It hopes to be able to operate freight trains from mid-2026, subject to obtaining network access, and says its rolling stock fleet will increase rail freight capacity in South Africa by 4.5 million tonnes a year. This is around 5% of the minister of transport’s target to grow freight traffic from 160 million to 250 million tonnes a year.
Capital investment
Traxtion says its investment, which will be funded from a combination of equity and debt capital, in an inital 65%/35% split, will result in the creation of 662 permanent jobs, including train crew and technicians, plus a “significant” number of jobs connected with manufacturing the new wagon fleet.
“This is the biggest private investment in rail freight in South Africa’s history,” says James Holley, Traxtion’s CEO, who adds that although the company had considered buying new locomotives, the opportunity to buy second-hand units from KiwiRail was unprecedented. “I’ve never encountered a fleet that large becoming available at once in over two decades in the rail industry. It will allow us to get locomotives into service faster than if we’d bought new.”
“I think this will be a catalytic project, that will hopefully encourage others to make similar investments,” says Holley, who praises the South African government’s efforts to drive forward open access in South Africa’s rail freight market. “Reform without investment is really meaningless, so the fact that the government has managed to spark investor confidence is heartening.”
The fourth edition of the government’s Network Statement, setting out in detail how the rail freight network will be opened up to private operators, is expected to be published this month or in early 2026. Traxtion has not revealed which services it aims to operate, but Holley says he expects the company to target bulk traffic, which is likely to be the most viable.
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An in-depth feature on Traxtion’s business development plans appears in the August issue of IRJ.
