S. Africa launches 100 locally manufactured electric trains

This week, South Africa unveiled the country's first 100 electric trains locally manufactured as it aims to move away from relying on imports for transport needs.

The trains were unveiled by the country's Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula in Johannesburg at the Gibela Rail Transport Consortium, who is the manufacturer of the trains and is owned by South Africa and a French company. 

"As we celebrate the 100th train set, we recognize this milestone as a giant leap towards an affordable integrated public transport network. This is the milestone we want to take to the African continent, we want to manufacture trains for Africa," said Mbalula.

The South African government has contracted Gibela consortium with a $3.2 billion investment to manufacture 600 trains for the state-owned enterprise - Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

Gibela expects to have built 600 electric trains by 2028, and it would maintain and provide technical support for the trains and supply spare parts for them. Mbalula said young South Africans were taken to India, Brazil and France to train and are now manufacturing the trains.

The trains have a speed of up to 120km per hour and that could be adjusted to 160km/h. Mbalula said during the train's manufacturing period, a total of 8,209 jobs were created, adding that the trains will provide efficient and affordable transport for people.

He explained that COVID-19 affected the train manufacturing as they were supposed to deliver the trains in 2020 and had to delay for about two years. The railways have been vandalized with some people stealing from them and selling them at scrap yards.

Leonard Ramatlakane, PRASA chairperson, said they have embarked on a massive overhaul of their railway system including train stations, railways lines and signals. He said they are modernizing it for use by the new electric trains.

He said, "These trains we see today require modern infrastructure. Part of this is ensuring that we have up to date technology at our depots. Modernization means that we need to lift the platform to be at the same level as the train. It means we have to fix the train lines because the wheels of this train are not the same as the wheels of Metrorail trains."

Ramatlakane urged the people to protect the government infrastructure as it belongs to them.

David Makhura, Gauteng province premier, also urged South Africans to protect the infrastructure. He said the South African manufactured trains should be sold to countries in Africa.

He said: "These trains are built by South Africans. We are re-industrializing. We are supporting the steel industry in our country and on the back of that, other industries. We are empowering our people. Black people are at the forefront of building these trains."

South Africa is currently facing load shedding with people going for six hours without electricity at times. This, according to the power utility, Eskom, has been caused by years of their power stations being not maintained, corruption and state capture.

The writer is a freelance writer for China Daily.