The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (PRASA) is shelling out R17 billion for new train signalling technology.
Speaking at the launch of the Mamelodi Greenview rail doubling project this week, group CEO Lucky Montana said the signalling upgrade is part of PRASA's investment into the modernisation of passenger rail services by 2015.
“PRASA's investment is part of its overall strategic objective of positioning passenger rail as the backbone for public transport, which is able to move large volumes of passengers,” said the agency.
Eliminating errors
Spokesperson Nana Zenani said the national signalling project will cost R17 billion and the first phase has already kicked off in the south of Gauteng. The Midway-Lenz corridor will cost R1.9 billion.
PRASA has prioritised this and other high-volume corridors in line with passenger demand in order to deliver quality passenger rail services, said Montana.
“The new signalling upgrades and the introduction of a new technology will ensure operational efficiency, unlocking capacity and improving reliability,” according to the agency.
Zenani explained that the new technology will enable quick deployment of trains and enhance safety.
Some of the technology will see automatic train protection where, if a light is red, the train won't be allowed to proceed, because it will automatically apply brakes. Zenani said this will eliminate the chance of driver errors where red lights are skipped.
“In November, we are going to go out to tender for the Western Cape and KZN regions. The national project is expected to run over five years.”
Doubling trains
PRASA says the Mamelodi-Pretoria CBD corridor is one of the more dense commuter corridors in Gauteng, with 91 000 passengers making use of it on a daily basis.
“Currently, Metrorail (PRASA's commuter rail operator) only runs a single train in and out of the section between Eerste Fabrieke and Pienaarspoort (via Mamelodi Gardens). This limits Metrorail from planning additional train sets in peak periods to move the current 31 000 daily peak hour commuters on the corridor - which is still not enough to run an efficient service.”
The agency added that according to its demand projections, this peak hour passenger flows on the corridor will increase to 60 000 commuters in future.
"With the finalisation of the rail doubling project and the introduction of bi-directional signalling, our rail operator will be able to almost double the number of daily trains on the corridor, necessitating increasing the combined capacity of these three key stations from handling approximately 39 000 people per day to 58 000 people per day in future," said Montana.
"Our aim as PRASA is to improve the running time in-corridor from a 30-minute waiting period to five to seven minutes - effectively moving approximately 60 000 people to their areas of employment on time.”
Most important, however, is the agency's aim to build and improve public transportation, said Montana, in particular rail, as it's the most effective and economically viable mode of public transport. It is also the only mode of transport capable of transporting 2.4 million people per day, he added.
Automated signals
PRASA announced its decision to overhaul its railway signalling system in November last year. It said the current system consists of a mixture of technologies from the 1930s to the 1980s.
“Upgrading the system will replace the practice of mechanical interlocking or the manual changing of signals by pulling a lever.”
The agency chose Siemens SA to install the technologically advanced railway signalling system.
Through PRASA's planned railway signalling replacement initiative, train signal changes will be automated through the pressing of a few buttons.
Montana had also said that running the old railway signalling system was quite costly. "The current signalling system is no longer suitable for a safe movement and monitoring of traffic. It is unreliable and has contributed to accidents in the recent past.
"Approximately 80% of the signalling installations have become obsolete, and the remainder not able to fully support modern and safe railway operations," he said.
“We are now striving to make PRASA the number one public transport operator in SA's high-volume corridors by 2015."
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