Transnet wants long-term train assembly plants

TRANSNET wanted companies that won its locomotive tender to set up permanent train assembly plants locally to create jobs and a new industry, the state-owned ports and rail operator said yesterday. General Electric (GE) has started putting together 233 locomotives in the country after Transnet Freight Rail awarded a R50 billion contract in March to supply 1 064 diesel and electric trains over four years. GE, Bombardier and two Chinese firms share the tender. “We want to keep these factories working,” Transnet Freight Rail chief executive Siyabonga Gama said. The rail unit is spending two-thirds of Transnet’s R312bn expansion budget until 2019 on a new fleet and upgrading and laying lines to boost its capacity to haul iron ore, coal and manganese, after decades of underinvestment. GE and CSR, China’s biggest train maker, are assembling locomotives in Pretoria, with CSR responsible for 359 units. Bombardier of Canada and China CNR will set up facilities in Durban, with the two firms working on 240 and 232 engines, respectively. – Bloomberg