Final Brazilian-built EMU for PRASA completed

Alstom Brazil’s Lapa factory has completed the last of 20 X'Ttrapolis Mega electric multiple-units for Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa.

PRASA placed a R51bn order for 600 of the six-car 1 067 mm gauge EMUs in 2013, with 20 to be supplied from Brazil and the remaining 580 from a new factory which is being built by the Gibela consortium of Alstom (61%), Ubumbano Rail (30%) and New Africa Rail (9%) at Dunnottar, 50 km east of Johannesburg. Production at Dunnottar is scheduled to start next year, with peak output expected to reach 62 EMUs a year, supporting around 200 domestic suppliers.

The Dunnottar site will include a 4 000 m² training centre and is expected to create over 1 500 direct jobs over the 10-year production run, with Alstom Brazil continuing to transfer technology to Gibela technical staff until mid-2018.

‘We are pleased to contribute technical expertise for this project, providing access to modern rail technology systems and empowering Gibela employees with various facets of rail skills’, said Rosângela Tsuruda, General Director of the Lapa business, on July 11.