The Rapport newspaper reported that Prasa\u2019s own engineers warned that the Afro 4000 locomotives are too high and should be lowered.<\/p>\n
The newspaper said that Prasa wanted to lower the height of the diesel locomotives from well over 4m to 3.965m.<\/p>\n
The reason is that the current height of 4.14m is seen as dangerous because they will come very close to the height of poorly maintained overhead power lines.<\/p>\n
However, Vossloh Espana, the manufacturer of the trains, said that lowering the height was not possible at such a late stage.<\/p>\n
The thirteen Afro 4000 diesel locomotives that have so far been delivered to Prasa are worth R600 million and form part of a larger R3.5 billion order for 70 new locomotives.<\/p>\n
This report follows a week of conflicting statements about the height of the new Prasa locomotives.<\/p>\n
On 6 July 2015 Lucky Montana, CEO of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa),rejected Rapport\u2019s article which claimed<\/a><\/strong> that its new batch of locomotives exceed the height restrictions for local tracks.<\/p>\n Prasa stressed that the height of the new locomotives was 4.1 metres, and did meet all safety requirements, including a height restriction of 4.5 metres.<\/p>\n However, the latest report states that while there is indeed a height restriction of 4.5m on overhead power lines, poor maintenance means that these lines are lower than that in many places.<\/p>\n The Prasa CEO also suggested<\/strong><\/a> that the engineering team was being undermined because the lead engineer is black. He said that the motive for Rapport\u2019s article \u2018was probably a race issue\u2019.<\/p>\n Network24 hit back<\/strong><\/a> with an article which showed that Prasa\u2019s chief engineer, Dr Daniel Mtimkulu, is not officially registered as an engineer. Questions were also raised about his qualifications.<\/p>\n Prasa responded by saying that<\/strong><\/a> its chief engineer is not required to be registered as an engineer. They added that he is a qualified engineer.<\/p>\n But only a few days later Prasa said that it will investigate<\/a><\/strong> the allegations over the qualifications of its top engineer, Dr Daniel Mtimkulu.<\/p>\n \u201cHe (Mtimkulu) is a dynamic individual and a transformation leader who continues to play a major role in the revolution unfolding in the rail industry in the country,\u201d said Prasa spokesperson, Moffet Mofokeng.<\/p>\n \u201c(We) will, however, initiate a process to establish the veracity of these allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n The full report is available in the Rapport newspaper of 12 July 2015<\/em><\/p>\n Top train engineer doesn\u2019t need to be registered: Prasa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Rapport defends Prasa story<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Prasa CEO: top engineer targeted because he is black<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nBattle over Prasa head engineer<\/h3>\n
More on Prasa<\/h3>\n