PRASA, Transnet had concerns over locomotive height – documents

PRASA’s own engineers warned in a report that its new Afro 4000 diesel locomotives, which were bought from Spain at a cost of R600-million, could come so close to overhead power lines in certain parts of the country’s poorly maintained railway lines that they could pose a significant safety hazard. City Press’ sister publication, Rapport, has also established that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) sent an “SOS” message in engineering terms to Spain on 5 November 2013 to ask whether the expensive locomotives, which had been ordered eight months previously, could not be lowered further.