THIS MONTH Sifang Loco & Rolling Stock Co will deliver to Angola the last of eight SDD6 diesel locos ordered for Luanda railway. Services on the 424 km line from the capital to Malange and the 55 km branch to Dondo are expected to be fully restored later this year, once repairs to war-damaged infrastructure are completed.
The four wide-bodied passenger locos and four narrow-bodied freight locos based on SDE16N locos supplied to Namibia have Cummins QSK60-L engines rated at 1 640 kW, and are theoretically capable of running at 120 km/h, although the infrastructure will limit services to 60 km/h. The six-axle locos have self-steering bogies and a 16 tonne axleload to minimise track forces, and the cabs are air-conditioned for use in the hot daytime sun.
- Eight additional SDE16N locos arrived in Namibia in June, and nine more are expected to be delivered this month. The 17 locos are being supplied by Sifang under a N$250m order funded by a loan from the Export & Import Bank of China. Since the beginning of the year TransNamib has taken delivery of 200 Chinese-built wagons, including fuel and chemical tank cars.
