‘Prasa locomotives met all standards’

110609 The Doornfontein station is the first in a number of Passenger Rail Station upgrades to be undertaken by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa ( PRASA). Picture: Ziphozonke Lushaba

110609 The Doornfontein station is the first in a number of Passenger Rail Station upgrades to be undertaken by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa ( PRASA). Picture: Ziphozonke Lushaba

Published Jul 6, 2015

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Johannesburg - The 13 imported new diesel locomotives that cost R600 million met all the regulatory standards and regulations, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) CEO Lucky Montana said on Monday.

“We are meeting the standards, the testing and commissioning of these locomotives. I can confirm that they not only meet but exceed the safety standards we have in place,” Montana said at a press conference in Johannesburg.

Montana was responding to a media report on Sunday that the locomotives were imported despite “explicit warnings that the trains are not suited for local rail lines” and that Prasa had received “new diesel locomotives that are too high for the long distance routes they were intended for”.

The 13 locomotives form part of an order of 70 locomotives South Africa secured for R3.5-billion from Spanish manufacturer Vossloh Espana.

However, Montana said that the Rail Safety Regulator confirmed that they had issued a testing and commissioning licence to Prasa for the locomotives.

“They were satisfied that this locomotive meets all the requirements.”

Rapport newspaper on Sunday referred to the tender deal as “what may be the country’s largest and most expensive recent tender blunder”.

According to senior railway engineers and certain sources, Prasa had been warned that the locomotives were too tall for local use and exceeded the height restrictions for diesel locomotives on the long distance lines.

According to Rappport, the locomotives have a roof height of 4264mm and the maximum height for diesel locomotives may not exceed 3965mm.

However, on Monday, Montana said the regulator sent the press release to the journalist in question detailing that the locomotives met the necessary standards. He questioned why the authority was not “taken seriously” and why a letter from an anonymous engineer should be elevated above what the regulator on the issue said.

He said the locomotives were 4.1 metres high.

“I think that the big question is why the media decided not to publish the statement by the rail safety regulator,” he said.

“[According to the report] our locomotives cannot even pass through a bridge, but we passed through tunnels. From our side there is no story, the hype was created.”

At a press conference, Prasa showed a video of one of the locomotives going through a tunnel to demonstrate that the locomotives had no problem going through tunnels.

He said as Prasa was preparing the locomotives, they needed to make sure that there was proper alignment and that Transnet and the Rail Safety Regulator would go with them.

Montana said he was disappointed after political statements from various political parties in parliament on the matter.

“They are ill-informed. On the statements issued about corruption - the procurement process we followed, we followed until scrutiny,” he said.

“It is very unfortunate… and I hope the political parties will familiarise themselves with the facts and not try to score some cheap political points that have no base.”

He said the locomotives Prasa bought could not be bought or made by a company in South Africa.

The testing phase of the locomotives were currently in place, where they each have to travel 3,000km before they could be used for commercial use to ensure that they met requirements, he added.

“It is a beautiful locomotive, its impact on the track, we’ve cut the cost of maintenance,” he said.

“The Rapport article yesterday and the sensationalism and the article saying that this was the most expensive blunder – is wrong,” a defiant Montana said.

In a statement by the Economic Freedom Fighters on Monday, spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said the party condemned the African National Congress-led government for the “reckless use of taxpayers funds” in the procurement of 70 “defective” locomotives.

He said that Transport Minister Dipuo Peters had welcomed the arrival of 13 locomotives despite warnings from engineering experts that these locomotives were not suitable for South African railway tracks.

“The EFF is concerned and disturbed by serious disregard of prudent management of taxpayers funds by the department of transport and its related entities like Prasa,” he said in a statement.

“We have reason to suspect that bribes may have been exchanged in the cheerful procurement of these ‘defective’ locomotives from a company that was found guilty of price collusion in Germany in 2012. The CEO of Prasa, Lucky Montana, is already facing numerous allegations of corruption,” Ndlozi said.

He said Montana should be suspended and investigated on corruption allegations against him and that the contracts of “defective locomotives” which were not locally manufactured should be suspended.

However, at the press conference Montana said there was no corruption and that the locomotives could not be manufactured locally.

“People are beating on drums, withholding information to create the perception that Prasa is run by a bunch of incompetent people, that we are corrupt, and secondly, that we are incompetent. This is not true,” said Montana.

ANA

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