NEWS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
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Export table grapes by rail
Each journey with 32 12m reefer containers takes 29 hours from the Kakamas station to the quayside in the Cape Town harbour . Once sealed by the pack house in the Orange River region , there is no further handling of the container , no delays at weighbridges on national roads , and no waiting in congested traffic to enter the harbour .
Power for the integral refrigeration units comes from a diesel-driven 300kVA generator housed in an ISO container in the middle of the train — 16 reefers up front and 16 reefers behind . The wagons are permanently connected to minimise cable failures , and each wagon has a 380V power supply to which the reefer unit is plugged into . Two generators provide a backup in the event of a generator failure and it has a 7 000l storage tank of diesel . A skilled artisan accompanies the train to take care of any possible failures .
The train may seem a rather outdated mode of transport , but it probably has far greater benefits in modern times than when first introduced : volumes of road traffic and the risk of accidents are much higher ; less possibility of hijackings ; fewer staff in the form of drivers ; and less wear and tear on our costly road infrastructure .
In the year 2000 , the train also started to move reefers with export avocados from Tzaneen to Cape Town — a journey of 48 hours — and in 2003 , the reefer train project received a Gold award in South Africa ’ s Logistics Achiever awards . Other than table grapes from Kakamas , the container train is used mainly for export citrus from Tzaneen to Durban and some to Cape Town .
As part of a strategic development plan , Transnet aims to re-establish the reefer train service to avocado exporters and increase volumes of citrus .
A feeder service between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth harbour is also being planned , but all will depend on the upkeep of the rail infrastructure and Transnet management . Alternatively ,
Traffic at the Kakamas station is virtually limited to the reefer train .
private-public partnerships could also enter the arena and seize the opportunity to provide a lucrative service . There also could be less carbon emissions from the rail journey as compared to the 32 road vehicles with diesel gen sets on board , but this would require thorough research before making any such assumptions .
On a historical note , the branch line from Upington via Keimoes was opened
The train has 32 reefer containers of 12m each .
in 1926 as a two-foot gauge railway to serve the agricultural colony on the Orange River . In its heyday it carried 90 000 tonnes of lucerne , 8 000 tonnes of grain , and 4 000 tonnes of raisins . In 1948 , it was decided to re-lay the track at 3 ’ 6 ” gauge to avoid the need to trans-ship everything at Upington . In present times , it appears that the reefer trains for table grapes are the only traffic on the Kakamas line . CLA
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The diesel generator wagon ( blue ), with the diesel storage tank on left , is positioned in the centre of the train .
4 www . coldlinkafrica . co . za COLD LINK AFRICA • March | April 2017