SOUTH AFRICA: Transnet Freight Rail has awarded Voestalpine VAE SA a three-year contract to supply turnouts and components.
VAESA Chief Executive Pulane Tshabalala Kingston said this is the first substantial turnout contract to have be successfully awarded by TFR in the last five years. She said this ‘explains TFR’s significant maintenance backlog’, and the order would ’go a long way to resolving cycle time issues, creating jobs, bolstering the revenues of users on the rail network and ultimately contributing to our overall economic growth’.
Manufacturing will be undertaken at the Isando site in Johannesburg which was acquired by VAESA 26 years ago, with black woman-owned company Mirai Rail Corp acquiring a controlling interest in VAESA in 2021.
‘As the only facility of its scale in sub-Saharan Africa, our Isando facility stands as a testament not only to the company’s dedication to advancing railway infrastructure and technology on the continent, but also to our commitment to local manufacture in South Africa’, said Tshabalala Kingston.
‘Our facility has the capacity to comfortably meet both TFR’s demand in terms of the awarded contract, as well as our other customers’ demands. We have gone to great lengths to ensure the security of supply for our customers, as we understand how important this is.’
