Cheaper loco for shunting

The effective GS7 shunter.

RAIL provides the best solution to gridlocked roads, but South Africa’s rail has fallen far behind the times with especially its locomotives using a lot of fuel.

Now Grindrod has built a locomotive that lays the foundation for the modern railway that is required if South Africa is to remove the average of 6 000 plus trucks that use the N3 each day.

The company said at the launch the GS7 locomotive lowers the operating cost of locomotives in SA and is proudly South African.

Grindrod Locomotives CEO Robert Spoon said at the launch of the locomotive at Rovos rail in Pretoria planning for the GS7 had started in 2011.

Their goals were to create an emissions-compliant shunting locomotive that would incorporate local manufacture at half the cost of European counterparts, with a lower running cost, using the latest technology, Spoon said.

He said the 800 hp GS7S3C DC diesel is “unparalleled in the market to provide cost-effective tractive effort for shunting and short-haul rail operations”.

This was attributed to 80% local components that comprise off-the-shelf service parts and other auxillary systems, digital protection of equipment to eliminate expensive failures and up to 18 000 hours engine life without any serious overhaul requirements.

Grindrod said it had tested the fuel consumption at about 16 litres per hour, compared to around 35 to 40 litres per hour using conventional shunters in loading operations on heavy-haul iron ore sites. This excellent consumption partly stems from low-loss systems including auxiliaries such as compressors, cooling fans and blowers.

Maintenance cost of the GS7S3C is estimated at almost a third less of the conventional 300 hp mainline locomotives currently shunting in SA with Grindrod estimating cost over a 10-year life cycle at about R2 000 per day.

Spoon explained that Grindrod Locomotives had recently expanded its manufacturing plant to 30 000 m2, with a capacity allowing for up to 100 locomotives of any configuration to be manufactured in a year.

The Department of Trade and Industry had awarded Grindrod an R11 million grant earlier this year to upgrade its production facilities, enhance its component localisation initiative and train and develop its staff.

Grindrod committed R30 million to the project that is now 50% completed.