Thales in world

Source: http://www.railway-technology.com/

Image: The Thales-Maziya consortium will provide rail signalling to the Western Cape Region in South Africa. Photo: Thales Group.

A consortium of Thales and Maziya has secured a €136m signalling contract from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).

Under the contract, the Thales-Maziya consortium will supply a rail signalling system to the Western Cape province that will cover 250km of the region's passenger rail network.

Work under the deal will include the establishment of the new Cape Town Train Traffic Control Centre to manage train operations for the network.

The work will also include the design, supply, installation, test and commissioning of new electronic interlocking systems, telecommunications and security systems, as well as associated wayside equipment.

Thales consortium partner Maziya will provide infrastructure, civil works and power supply expertise.

"Work under the deal will include the establishment of the new Cape Town Train Traffic Control Centre to manage train operations for the network."

Thales South Africa deputy CEO Justice Tootla said: "The provision of an integrated rail signalling system to the country's Western Cape Province will ensure efficiency and reliable investments, contributing to a fast developing continent."

The project is expected to start in the current financial year and will replace mainly obsolete mechanical and electromechanical systems.

According to Thales, the new signalling system will enable highly reliable operations and improved passenger services and comfort.

Prasa has awarded the contract as part of its new rolling stock programme, which includes the upgrading of the rail signalling, communications and train management systems, covering 46 train stations in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

According to Prasa spokesperson Nana Zenani, 139 of the company's 162 signalling installations across its rail network have exceeded their design life.

Prasa awarded a ZAR1.1bn ($122m) contract to the Bombardier Africa Alliance consortium in March 2013 to carry out re-signalling of KwaZulu-Natal commuter lines in Durban.

Alstom in world

Source: http://www.railway-technology.com/

Image: In February 2013, Alstom and TMH tested their jointly-developed prototype 2ES5 AC mainline electric freight locomotive. Photo: Transmashholding

Alstom and its Russian partner Transmashholding (TMH) have entered into an agreement with Russian Railways (RZD) to jointly develop a new dual-voltage electric locomotive.

Set to be named 2ES20, the new double-section freight locomotive with asynchronous traction motors will be capable of operating on 3kV dc and 25kV ac electrification systems.

Alstom and TMH have said that 2ES20 will be Russia's first main line electric dual-power freight locomotive.

The new twin-section locomotive is set to give RZD the potential to eliminate time-consuming and inefficient locomotive changes at the boundary points between different supply networks.

TMH president Andrey Bokarev said that the dual-system electric freight locomotive is a modern technology for Russia's domestic industry.

"Its application is able to considerably reduce the time for goods traffic in critical sections of the rail network," Bokarev said. "We expect the introduction of dual-voltage electric locomotives in the network to significantly increase the efficiency of the railway transport."

"The new double-section freight locomotive with asynchronous traction motors will be capable of operating on 3kV dc and 25kV ac electrification systems."

Alstom Transport president Henri Poupart-Lafarge said that the project is part of RZD's plan to modernize 20,000 locomotives by 2030.

"This new and high performing locomotive will enhance freight operations in the country, as well as in the 1520 market," Poupart-Lafarge said.

Development of the design documentation for the new 2ES20 locomotive is scheduled to be completed by September 2013, with the first prototype expected to be ready for testing in March 2014.

Russian Railways expects to take delivery of the first 2ES20 electric locomotive in December 2014.

Engineering design of the new locomotive and its major components will be carried out by TRTrans, the engineering company jointly managed by Alstom and TMH in Moscow and Novocherkassk.

Production of the locomotives will be carried out at the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant (NEVZ), which is part of Transmashholding.

Asynchronous drives and other traction components will be produced at Alstom and TMH's newly opened joint production site of RailComp, which is based at TMH's NEVZ locomotive plant.

So far, TMH and Alstom have jointly executed contracts on the supply of 400 locomotives to Russia and 295 locomotives to Kazakhstan.

Alstom and TMH carried out static and dynamic tests on the jointly-developed prototype 2ES5 AC mainline electric freight locomotive at TMH's NEVZ plant in February 2013.

GE - Aniversário

Fonte: 

Na última quarta-feira (29/05), a GE Transportation comemorou 51 anos de atuação no Brasil. A primeira fábrica da empresa foi inaugurada em 1962, em Campinas (SP), onde foram fabricadas locomotivas até 2005, quando a produção passou a ser feita em Contagem (MG).

Apesar de ter sido fundada em 1972, a fábrica em Contagem operava inicialmente como oficina de reparo de equipamentos ferroviários. A partir de 2005, essa unidade começou a produzir locomotivas de pequeno porte para exportação e, em 2007, passou a fornecer locomotivas novas para o mercado brasileiro. A fábrica em Minas Gerais recebeu em 2011 investimentos de cerca de R$ 28 milhões, que dobraram a capacidade de produção passando a produzir 120 locomotivas por ano.

A companhia produziu até 2012 mais de 1.300 locomotivas, dessas 400 na fábrica de Contagem, onde são desenvolvidos produtos para a América Latina e África.  Em abril, a unidade mineira concluiu as quatro primeiras locomotivas AC44i com 63% de nacionalização.