South African Class 9E, Series 1

The SAR Class 9E, Series 1, is one of the General Electric Company (GEC), and developed by Union Carriage and Wagon ( UCW ) built Elektolokomotivtyp.

Union Carriage and Wagon in Nigel, who also built the sequel series, Series 2, offered this primarily for the African market to - especially for the state's South African Railways (SAR ). Between 1978 and 1979 the South African Railways 25 machines with the number E9001 to E9025 acquired (later renamed Spoornet and Transnet Freight Rail ) for use on iron ore trains on the railway line Sishen - Saldanha.

Design features

The construction of the locomotive has an air-conditioned cab on one side only. The opposite end of the locomotive body is made ​​lower than the remaining structure to make room for the electrical devices mounted on the roof. It is the single pantograph of the locomotive, a voltage divider, a vacuum circuit breaker, surge protector and the high- voltage terminals of the transformers.

Due to frequently occurring larger voltage drops between the electrical substations, the locomotive was designed so that it can be operated at a voltage between 25 and 55 kV. The battery boxes and the main compressed air tanks are mounted between the bogies under the frame. Another compartment houses a small scooters, to the locomotive crew can use to make work easier for checks at up to 4,000 m long iron ore trains.

Use

The series is used on the 861 km long Sishen - Saldanha line from the iron ore mines in Sishen in the Northern Cape to the Port of Saldanha in the Western Cape Province. Most of the route runs in very hot and dry North Cape. The last 75 km of the section to Saldanha Bay are parallel to the most fog-shrouded Atlantic coast. The found on such in this section salty sea air sets the machine to mention.

The railway line from Sishen to Saldanha is unusual for South Africa:

• The construction of this line was made from 1973 through the South African Iron and Steel Corporation ( ISCOR ) Construction and was not supported by the SAR. The ISCOR put a diesel-electric vehicles by the wayside. Only in 1977 it was acquired by the SAR.
• The line was electrified at 50 kV AC, as opposed to the usual 25 kV AC, in the rest of the country.
• To date, the track is the longest electrified with 50 kV AC railway line in the world.
• The track is the only one in South Africa, at the same time electric and diesel locomotives are used on.

Mixed use of diesel and electric locomotives in a train

On the Sishen - Saldanha line diesel locomotives of Class 34 and 9E series are used simultaneously to draw up to 342 iron ore cars existing trains. Each of these freight cars has a load capacity of 100 tons. The trains are 3,720 m long in most cases.

This is always an electric locomotive class or series 9E 15E at the Zugspitze used. A total of nine to a maximum of twelve locomotives per train can be used. Before the use of machines of the 15E series in 2010, the locomotives were put together on the trains to three sets. One set consisted of one or two locomotives of the series 9E and one or two diesel locomotives series 34 between the sets you ranked each 114 freight wagons in the train one. However, this configuration of the train caused problems, there were lapses. We therefore classified the locomotives in four sets in train a, at the end of the train a two diesel locomotives set.

Gradually, the diesel locomotives of Class 34 diesel locomotives will be replaced by the new series 15E. An ore train will therefore exist in the future of seven electric locomotives of the series 9E or 15E in four sets.