South African Class 15E

In 2010 Transnet Freight Rail placed the first of seventy-six Class 15E 50 kV AC 50 Hz heavy electric freight locomotives with a Co-Co wheel arrangement in service on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line.^[1]

Manufacturers

The Class 15E is the product of a joint venture by Mitsui who was responsible for the design, Toshiba who supplied the electrical components, the RSD division of DCD-Dorbyl who supplied the monoblock cast frame, bolster bogies and drawgear, and the Union Carriage and Wagon (UCW) who constructed the bodies. It was manufactured for Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) by UCW in Nigel, Gauteng, who delivered the first locomotives in 2010.^[2][3][4]

The initial order was for forty-four locomotives, of which the last were delivered by UCW and accepted by TFR in the first week of August 2011. On 2 March 2011 it was announced in a Transnet press release that, in line with Transnet’s target of achieving 61 million tons per annum on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line, Transnet had signed an agreement for the supply of an additional thirty-two new Class 15E locomotives with Venus Railway Solutions, a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsui, and local BEE investors. Production of these additional locomotives is expected to commence in December 2011, with the first unit expected to be delivered by May 2012 and the last by August 2013.^[1]

Service

Class 15E locomotives are used on the 861 kilometres (535 miles) Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line to haul export ore from the open cast iron mines at Sishen in the Northern Cape to the harbour at Saldanha in the Western Cape. Most of the route is across the hot and dry Northern Cape, but the last 75 kilometres (47 miles) to Saldanha runs parallel to the Atlantic coastline and is subjected to the fog and salt sea air of the West Coast.^[5][6]

In South Africa, the line is unusual for several reasons.

• Construction, which started in 1973, was not undertaken by the South African Railways (SAR), but by the South African Iron and Steel Corporation (ISCOR), who operated the line with diesel-electric motive power. Operations on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line was only taken over from ISCOR by the SAR in 1977.
• It was electrified by the SAR at 50 kV AC, compared to the 25 kV AC high voltage that it used in other parts of the country.
• At the time it was the longest 50 kV AC electrified railway line in the world.^[5]
• It is the only line in South Africa where electric and diesel-electric locomotives are consisted in mixed power use.^[7]

Mixed Power

On the Orex line General Electric (GE) Class 34 diesel-electric locomotives run consisted to Class 9E and Class 15E electric locomotives to haul the 342 wagon iron ore trains. Each wagon has a 100 ton capacity and the trains are at least 3.72 kilometres (2.31 miles) in length, powered by mixed consists of Class 9E and Class 15E electric and GE U26C Class 34-000, 34-400, 34-500 and 34-900 diesel-electric locomotives.^[7][8]

A Class 9E or Class 15E electric locomotive serves as the master of each mixed electric and diesel-electric consist, with a total of between nine and twelve locomotives per train, twelve being the maximum number allowed. Before the Class 15E was placed in service in 2010, motive power usually consisted of three sets of locomotives, each set made up of one or two Class 9E electrics and one or two Class 34 diesel-electrics, with each set’s leading electric locomotive controlling its respective set of diesel-electrics by means of a slimkabel (smart cable). In effect each ore train was made up of three separate 114 wagon trains consisted together, with the locomotives of all three trains controlled by means of a Locotrol radio distributed power control system by one crew in the leading electric locomotive. A typical train would therefore be made up of locomotive set A, 114 wagons, locomotive set B, 114 wagons, locomotive set C, and 114 wagons.^[7][8][9]

Some problems were experienced using this configuration, and after a couple of major derailments the locomotive configuration was changed to four sets, with locomotive set D initially made up of two Class 34 diesel-electric locomotives at the rear end of the train, pushing at between 40% and 50% of tractive power at all times, depending on the grades being traversed. The total maximum number allowed was still between nine and twelve locomotives per train.^[8]

As more Class 15Es were delivered and placed in service, Class 9E or 15E electrics replaced the pair of Class 34 diesel-electrics in set D. At the same time the more powerful Class 15E also made it possible to use as few as seven locomotives per train, with locomotive sets A, B and C each made up of one Class 15E and one Class 34, and set D of a single Class 15E.^[8]

Gallery

See also

• South African Class 9E, Series 1
• South African Class 9E, Series 2
• Electric locomotive numbering and classification
• South African Class 34-000
• South African Class 34-400
• South African Class 34-500
• South African Class 34-900
• List of South African locomotive classes

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Transnet press release on 2 March 2011
2. ^ Toshiba Datasheet page 1
3. ^ Toshiba Datasheet page 2
4. ^ Bogies for the Class 15E
5. ^ ^{a b} Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 129-131. ISBN 0869772112. 
6. ^ Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. p. 50. 
7. ^ ^{a b c} Actom Divisions News, 22 July 2010
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Information supplied by Transnet Freight Rail staff
9. ^ Locotrol Distributed Power