Media coverage

Creamer Media’s Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Senior Deputy Editor Irma Venter about the Gibela consortium breaking ground on its R1-billion train manufacturing plant.

THE R1bn factory to be built for the production of nearly 600 new trains for the Passenger Rail Agency of SA will be one of the biggest and most productive in the world, says Gibela CEO Marc Granger.

Ground was officially broken on Friday at the site of a new 60 000 m2 manufacturing plant, which is being built by the Gibela consortium for the production of new passenger trains for the State-owned Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). The R1-billion facility, which is being developed.

NIGEL – Today marks an important date for all stakeholders in the Gibela Rail train manufacturing site, as the soil was officially turned during a groud-breaking ceremony at the construction site.

Minister of Transport, Ms Dipuo Peters, today supported the sod-turning event aimed at kick-starting the construction works for the planned state-of-the-art passenger train manufacturing plant.

The Gibela joint venture of Alstom and local partners marked the start of construction of its new EMU manufacturing plant at Dunnotar on March 4, with a ceremony attended by Alstom Chairman & CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, PRASA Chairman Dr Popo Molefe, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters and the Mayor of Ekurhuleni Mondli Gungubele.

Gibela CEO Marc Granger is positive the R51-billion deal that will see the Alstom-led consortium supply 600 new trains, up to 2027, to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) will move ahead swiftly this year.

Site clearing and earthworks for the R1-billion Dunnottar train manufacturing facility, in Ekurhuleni, which is being developed by the Alstom-led (61%) Gibela consortium, is moving ahead, following the award of a contract to Trencon Construction, of Edenvale.

The much-anticipated test by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) of the new state-of -the-art train is creating a buzz as it is scheduled to kick off before the end of this month.