On August 25, Bombardier Transportation inaugurated its new South African production site and headquarters at an event held in Isando, Johannesburg, which was attended by Transnet Group Chief Executive Officer Siyabonga Gama, guests, partners and Bombardier suppliers.
Transnet, the South African state-owned freight and logistics company, awarded Bombardier a contract for the supply of electric locomotives as part of a 50 billion ZAR contract in April 2014. The majority of the locomotives are being built at Transnet Engineering’s plants in Koedoespoort, Pretoria and Edwin Swales in Durban.
As of August 2016, the new Johannesburg site employs approximately 100 workers with an ongoing ramp up expected to increase the number of employees to around 200 by 2017.
“Bombardier’s production facility was an integral step in driving localization, transformation and economic empowerment,” said Gama. “The successful partnership with Bombardier serves a crucial purpose in enhancing and embedding our Market Demand Strategy – and the role Transnet plays in growing our economy.”
“We are proud to play such a large role in the development of the country’s mobility evolution and transformation and look forward to not only working closely with our South African partners, but also to delivering outstanding quality and unrivaled reliability to the region with our proven technologies,” said Per Allmer, president Bombardier Transportation Western Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The 6,000 square meter facility will produce BOMBARDIER MITRAC high power propulsion equipment for use in Transnet Locomotives project, for which Bombardier is delivering 240 BOMBARDIER TRAXX Africa locomotives.
The site will be used as a testing center for high power traction converters and electrical cubicles and will also become the headquarters for Bombardier Transportation in South Africa in October.