Durban - It is full steam ahead for the massive Western Aqueduct project – which is now gaining momentum with the help of a grand old locomotive dating back to the 1930s.
The Western Aqueduct is Durban’s biggest ever bulk water pipeline project and is essential for providing Durban with an assured, sustainable supply of water. It is expected to add an additional 400 million litres a day to supply the western regions, such as Kloof and Hillcrest.
One of the contracts in the mega project covers a 7km portion of the pipeline route from Inchanga Station to Alverstone Nek, and calls for a total of 40 enormous 18m pipes to be placed in trenches along the pipeline corridor.
But when eThekwini Water and Sanitation realised that getting pipes up the steep slope to the construction site would not only be dangerous, but would need expensive, specialised equipment, project manager, Martin Bright, called in Umgeni Steam Railway to help.
The railway line that is operated by Umgeni Steam Railway runs alongside the pipe corridor and it was realised that using a steam locomotive to get the heavy cargo up the slope was a much safer and viable option.
Marc Bouchier, treasurer of the Umgeni Steam Railway, said that the original plan had been to move the pipes using a diesel locomotive, but it was soon discovered that this was too small and the process would be too slow.
Umgeni Steam Railway has now loaned Cycad Pipelines its Class 19 D steam locomotive, which is powerful enough to transport the massive pipes without much effort.
And after a successful run this weekend, Umgeni Steam Railway will continue to use the locomotive to haul pipes along the route.
Each pipe weighs nine tons and has a 1.6m diameter. The heavy cargo is first trucked to Inchanga Station from a pipe yard in Cato Ridge.
Carriage
From there, each pipe is loaded on to an innovative bogie consisting of a two-carriage chassis that was specially built for the job by Cycad Pipelines.
Hauling the pipes can only take place at weekends because the people who operate the locomotive are all volunteers and can only tackle the task in their spare time.
The payment for moving the pipes will go towards the refurbishment of the Umgeni Steam Railway’s main locomotive, which was taken out of service 18 months ago after 15 years of hard work. The 101-year-old locomotive was specially designed for what was then known as the Natal Line, which has a particularly steep gradient. The partial restoration is expected to cost more than R600 000.
WACJV Consultants, the engineers overseeing the project, said that the steam locomotive might be called in to move pipes to other points along the route as the massive infrastructure project unfolds.
The first phase of the project, covering 19km from Umlaas Road to Inchanga Station, was completed and commissioned two years ago.
As a result of the second 55km phase (between Inchanga Station to Ntuzuma, northern Durban) being dogged by delays, the eThekwini Water and Sanitation department decided to unbundle the project into individual contracts, and the recent allocation of an additional R580m over three years is now accelerating key components of the aqueduct.
Cycad Pipelines was awarded the first contract and a second contract for the segment of the pipeline from Alverstone Nek to Ashley Drive in Hillcrest was awarded to a local company, WK SA Construction. Work has started on this section of the pipeline.
The project is expected to be completed by 2017. - Daily News