Saldanah Sishen line

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

I am going up to Langebaan for the weekend. I would like to see the Iron ore trains in action. Can anyone give me details on the timetable. I believe that two trains a day run up and down. I don't have time to sit next to the line for hours, so if anyone can help me I would appreciate it.

[Aidan McCarthy]

I visited the line last December, but could not find anybody in Saldanah who could provide any reliable info. We got lucky as a train of empties pulled out as we were leaving Saldanah and we caught it at loop 1. Unless somebody else on the forum can provide inside information your best bet is to visit the yard and depot at Saldanah, well worth the visit and hopefully you will get lucky with a train.

[fanie kleynhans]

Stefan a few years ago when I went to Saldanha I went to a small office next to where the yard area start, just to the left of the road that goes to Vredenburg. If you do find times pls share them as I would like to go that way again in the near future.

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Thanks Aiden and Fanie. Lets see how far I get.

[Dylan Knott]

Email OREX and ask them! :-)

[fanie kleynhans]

Stefan it seems you not going to see any trains this weekend, I just saw this on the website of Die Burger:

http://www.dieburger.com/Suid-Afrika/Nu ... s-20100723

Upington. – Groot skade is aangerig toe een van die langste treine in die land, wat ystererts van Kathu na Saldanhabaai vervoer het, naby Vredendal in die Wes-Kaap ontspoor het.

Niemand is in die ongeluk beseer nie.

Luidens ’n verklaring van die treinveiligheidsreguleerder het die trein Donderdag omstreeks 16:00 ontspoor.

Groot skade is aan voorraad en infrastruktuur aangerig.

Twee lokomotiewe, een diesel en een elektries, en 107 waens aan die agterkant van die trein het ontspoor.

Die trein bestaan uit verskeie lokomotiewe wat op verskillende plekke gekoppel word.

Die trein het meer as 300 waens.

Die voorval word deur twee spoorwegveiligheidsinspekteurs op die toneel ondersoek.

Luidens die verklaring is daar nog geen aanduiding wat die ontsporing veroorsaak het nie.

Die spoorlyn is gesluit om skoongemaak en herstel te word.

’n Aanduiding van wanneer die lyn heropen sal word, kan eers gegee word wanneer die skade aan die infrastruktuur bepaal is.

Die Sishen-Saldanha-spoorlyn, ook bekend as die Ore Export Line, is 861 km lank. Dit verbind die Sishen-ysterertsmyn by Kathu met Saldanhabaai se hawe.


- Die Burger

[Craig Duckham]

pictures can be seen on my blog

http://sa-railnews.blogspot.com/

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Thats one 9E and a couple of 34's that won't see the rails again. I wonder if it was sabotage with this Mittal Kumba fight. I will just have to sit in the heated pool sipping champagne. How boring life can be.

[Luca Lategan]

My MOER!

Ja, Fanie, was surprised to see it on the front page today. I was, however, just as surprise to see that it already happened on Thursday and that there hasn't been a word since now!

That clean up will surely take a few days. Does any one know if this is the first such incident in the history of OREX?

Any more information, Craig? This smell like sabotage to me...

[Derek Walker]

Blimey. Thats going to be a difficult one to clean up.

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Craig looking at your blog again, thank goodness the Loco's did not tip off that bridge, otherwise there could have been fatalities. Where do they publish the findings of these accidents. They just seem to disappear as everyone forgets about it.

[allanroy]

Stefan would those locos have been manned? as it says its the back of the train that derailed not the front locos.

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

No if it was the the back then no one would have been in the cabs. They are all controlled from the Driver up front. I did not realise that this was the rear

[Craig Duckham]

I have no further information other than the pictures and that nobody was killed.

Neither do I think it was sabotage (between the two parties). The safety regulator investigate this sort of thing. They do not hide the outcomes and if one has a contact, this information should be available.

[allanroy]

Transnet shuts iron ore line after train accident
July 24, 2010

South Africa's logistics group Transnet has shut down its iron ore rail line after a train carrying ore was derailed, the company said on Saturday, threatening to slow exports of the raw material.

Transnet's freight arm's spokesperson, Sandile Simelani, said it would take some time to clear the line between Kumba Iron Ore's Sishen mine and the port of Saldhana following the derailment.

Kumba, a unit of global miner Anglo American and the world's 10th-largest iron ore producer, uses the line to export the steel-making ingredient to overseas markets.

Simelani said the cause of the derailment of the train, which had 124 wagons carrying the raw material, had not yet been established but workers were busy clearing the site.

"We will need to conduct an enquiry to establish what happened. We will also need to clear the iron ore (from the rail track) before the line can be opened, but I can't tell when this is going to happen," Simelani told Reuters.

Transnet said exports of iron ore in the 2010 financial year rose to 44.7-million ton, in line with customer commitments, compared with 36.8-million ton in the previous financial year. - Reuters