AFRICA: Six Vossloh Afro4000 locomotives originally built for passenger services have been modified by leasing company Traxtion to enable them to haul freight trains.
The locos were originally ordered by South Africa’s PRASA but never entered service, and the contract was terminated.
Traxtion subsequently acquired six working locomotives and one damaged loco at an auction, and says they have been a welcome addition to its extensive fleet. The six working locos have been leased by Calabash Freight Ltd for open access freight operation between Zambia and Tanzania.
The locomotives were equipped with Knorr-Bremse UIC style air and vacuum brake controls to operate passenger coaches, but these are not compatible with the AAR standard for direct release air brakes used on wagons in the region.
To enable freight operation, Knorr-Bremse staff from South Africa, supported by their colleagues in Spain, modified the driver control interface to prohibit graduated brake pipe release manipulation. A bypass module was designed to enable the existing brake control to be switched between graduate release (UIC) for when vacuum coaches are in use, and direct release (AAR) when AAR wagons are in use.
Traxtion’s technical team also collaborated with Knorr-Bremse to provide the ability for drivers to release the locomotive brakes without releasing the train brakes.
- CEO James Holley discussed Traxtion’s ambitions in the African Rail sector in the July 2021 issue of Railway Gazette International.
