VISIT TO UCW

Posted on 02 August 2009 by Railways Africa Editor

At the end of June, 15 members of the Railway Society of Southern Africa (Reef Branch) participated in a visit to the Union Carriage & Wagon (UCW) Partnership factory at Nigel. Since 1957, the plant has been building locomotives and coaches for South Africa and other railways on the continent, as well as the Far East. In all, UCW has built over 13,000 new locomotives in addition to both passenger and freight rolling stock. Current contracts include the new class 15E (50kV AC) and 19E (dual 25kV AC and 3kV DC) electric locomotives. In addition, the works are assembling Gautrain coaches from UK-built kits and are refurbishing 5M2A Metrorail motor and trailer coaches as 10M units.

The underframes of the class 15E and 19E locos are welded up from steel sections in the factory’s heavy fabrication shop,. These are massive structures, made up from sections up to 65mm thick.
Here too, the bodywork and cabs are welded together. To keep down the mass of the 19E, both cab and sides are made from 2.5mm steel. By comparison, as it was necessary to increase the mass of the 15E to 180 tonnes, the cab in this case is made from 30mm steel.

After painting, the frames are taken to the assembly shop where the electrical and mechanical components are added. During the construction processes, the locomotives are pushed from one assembly station to the next on accommodation bogies. The completed loco is taken to the paint shop and them to the final static test station where it is passed out for delivery to Transnet Freight Rail (TFR). The final acceptance test for the 19E comprises six locos pulling 200 jumbo coal wagons from Ermelo to Richards Bay and back three times. The acceptance test for the 15E locos is to pull 342 iron-ore wagons from Sishen to Saldana and back three times.

The first five of the 110 class 19Es are being tested at Pyramid where both overhead voltages are in use. On-board voltage detectors and associated switching enable the locos to run from one voltage to the next without stopping.

The first loco of the 32 class 15Es was being completed at the time of the visit, being due for testing and delivery in July. They weigh in at 180 tonnes with a 30 tonne axle load. When complete they are to be towed to Saldanha on transfer bogies, to keep the axle load down to 26 tonnes. At Saldana they will be reassembled with the proper bogies for commissioning and testing.

– from On Track, newsletter of the Railway Society of SA (Reef branch)