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 No. 22-020 at Pyramid South on 22 September 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Transnet Freight Rail Class 22E of 2015 is a South African electric locomotive.
On 10 April 2015, the first Class 22E dual voltage six-axle locomotive for Transnet Freight Rail was rolled out by the CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company in China. [1] [2]
The first forty Class 22E dual voltage 3 kV DC and 25 kV AC Co-Co locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail were built in China by Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company, a subsidiary of the China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation (CSR). The roll-out ceremony of the first locomotive, no. 22-002, took place at the factory on 10 April 2015. The rest of the order for 359 locomotives are being built locally at the Koedoespoort shops of Transnet Engineering in Pretoria. [1] [2]
Co-Co is the wheel arrangement for a diesel locomotive with two six-wheeled bogies with all axles powered, with a separate motor per axle. The equivalent UIC classification (Europe) for this arrangement is Co′Co′ or C-C for AAR (USA).
Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people for decades from the first half of the 20th century and was widely referred to by the initials SAR&H. Customer complaints about serious problems with Transnet Freight Rail's service were reported in 2010. Its head office is in Inyanda House in Parktown, Johannesburg.
The acquisition of the Class 22E forms part of the largest-ever locomotive supply contract in South African history and the single-biggest investment initiative by a South African corporation. It consists of contracts for the construction of 1,064 locomotives by four global original equipment manufacturers: [3] [4]
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 44-000 of 2015 is a South African diesel-electric locomotive.
The builder's plates on the Chinese-built locomotives are inscribed with the year 2015, but for an unknown reason the plate on no. 22-041, the first of the South African-builts, is incorrectly inscribed "2014".
In the 1930s, during the steam era of the South African Railways, a heavier mainline version of the Class 21 2-10-4 steam locomotive, the Class 22 2-10-4 , was proposed, but never built. The Class 22E is therefore the first locomotive in South Africa to receive this class number. [5]
The South African Railways Class 21 2-10-4 of 1937 was a steam locomotive.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-10-4 locomotive has two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a bissel truck, ten coupled driving wheels on five axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles, usually in a bogie. These were referred to as the Texas type in most of the United States, the Colorado type on the Burlington Route and the Selkirk type in Canada.
The locomotive body is a welded monocoque design, constructed of steel plates and profiled members. The Class 22E locomotive is virtually identical in visual appearance to the earlier Class 20E and Class 21E locomotives, but longer, with a different wheel arrangement and a different interior layout. [6]
Monocoque, also structural skin, is a structural system where loads are supported through an object's external skin, similar to an egg shell. The word monocoque is a French term for "single shell" or "single hull". First used in boats, a true monocoque carries both tensile and compressive forces within the skin and can be recognised by the absence of a load-carrying internal frame.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 20E of 2013 is a South African electric locomotive.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 21E of 2014 is a South African electric locomotive.
It has a nominal rating of 4,600 kilowatts (6,200 horsepower). This is the second type of modern Co-Co design electric locomotive to join Transnet's fleet after the heavy-duty Class 15E, which is used on the Sishen-Saldanha (Orex) route. Both these locomotives are single cab types. [7]
The Class 22E has a single cab and a gangway along the centre of the locomotive, while the interior layout and placement of equipment is as follows, from the cab towards the rear: [6]
As on the dual voltage Classes 19E, 20E and 21E, the main electric circuit is automatically selected in either AC or DC mode based on the voltage of the overhead contact wire feeding the locomotive. To facilitate automatic trouble-free transition on the run, the locomotive is equipped with onboard voltage detectors, while the overhead wire is equipped with two wooden isolators and a 3 metres (10 feet) length of neutral wire to separate the AC and DC feeds. The neutral section is connected to the rails which serve as the return conductor on electrified lines. [2] [8]
The transition process requires that the locomotive should automatically be switched off before it reaches the isolators and the unpowered overhead wire section, and automatically be restarted after exiting from under the unpowered wire. This is done by a pair of track magnets, one on either side of the neutral overhead wire and spaced 45 metres (148 feet) apart. The two magnets are mounted with their polarities reversed in relation to each other and they activate a magnetic relay located behind the cowcatcher of the locomotive to do the switching off and restarting. [8]
Transnet Freight Rail insisted that the locomotive must be designed in such a way that the pantograph contact shoe centres are directly above the bogie pivot centres, as was done on the Class 7E and Class 7E2, Series 1 and Series 2, and again on the Classes 20E and 21E. The reason is to reduce the possibility of pantograph hookups on catenary in sharp curves, such as in turnouts, as a result of sideways movement of the pantograph in relation to the overhead wire. [9]
An electro-diesel locomotive is powered either from an electricity supply or by using the onboard diesel engine. For the most part, these locomotives are built to serve regional, niche markets with a very specific purpose.
Railway electric traction describes the various types of locomotive and multiple units that are used on electrification systems around the world.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 15E of 2010 is a South African electric locomotive.
The South African Railways Class 6E1, Series 4 of 1973 was an electric locomotive.
The South African Railways Class 7E1 of 1980 is an electric locomotive.
The South African Railways Class 7E2, Series 2 of 1983 is an electric locomotive.
The Spoornet Class 10E1, Series 2 of 1990 is a South African electric locomotive.
The Spoornet Class 18E, Series 1 of 2000 is a South African electric locomotive.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 18E, Series 2 of 2009 is a South African electric locomotive.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 19E of 2009 is a South African electric locomotive.
The South African Railways Class 35-600 of 1976 is a branch line diesel-electric locomotive.
The South African Railways Class 37-000 of 1981 is a mainline diesel-electric locomotive.
The Spoornet Class 39-000 of 2006 is a South African diesel-electric locomotive from the Spoornet era.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 39-200 of 2009 is a South African diesel-electric locomotive.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 43-000 of 2011 is a South African diesel-electric locomotive.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 23E of 2017 is a South African electric locomotive.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 45-000 of 2015 is a South African diesel-electric locomotive.
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