South African Class 22E

The Transnet Freight Rail Class 22E of 2015 is a South African electric locomotive.

On 10 April 2015, the first Class 22E dual voltage six-axle locomotive for Transnet Freight Rail was rolled out by the CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company in China.^[1][2]

Manufacturers

The first forty Class 22E dual voltage 3 kV DC and 25 kV AC Co-Co locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail were built in China by Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company, a subsidiary of the China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation (CSR). The roll-out ceremony of the first locomotive, no. 22-002, took place at the factory on 10 April 2015. The rest of the order for 359 locomotives are being built locally at the Koedoespoort shops of Transnet Engineering in Pretoria.^[1][2]

The acquisition of the Class 22E forms part of the largest-ever locomotive supply contract in South African history and the single-biggest investment initiative by a South African corporation. It consists of contracts for the construction of 1,064 locomotives by four global original equipment manufacturers:^[3][4]

• CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company, for 359 Class 22E dual-voltage electric locomotives.^[3][4]
• Bombardier Transportation South Africa, for 240 Class 23E dual-voltage electric locomotives.^[3][4]
• General Electric South Africa Technologies (a unit of the U.S.-based GE Transportation), for 233 Class 44-000 diesel-electric locomotives.^[3][4]
• CNR Rolling Stock South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., for 232 Class 45-000 diesel-electric locomotives.^[3][4]

The builder's plates on the Chinese-built locomotives are inscribed with the year 2015, but for an unknown reason the plate on no. 22-041, the first of the South African-builts, is incorrectly inscribed "2014".

The Class number

In the 1930s, during the steam era of the South African Railways, a heavier mainline version of the Class 21 2-10-4 steam locomotive, the Class 22 2-10-4, was proposed, but never built. The Class 22E is therefore the first locomotive in South Africa to receive this class number.^[5]

Characteristics

The locomotive body is a welded monocoque design, constructed of steel plates and profiled members. The Class 22E locomotive is virtually identical in visual appearance to the earlier Class 20E and Class 21E locomotives, but longer, with a different wheel arrangement and a different interior layout.^[6]

It has a nominal rating of 4,600 kilowatts (6,200 horsepower). This is the second type of modern Co-Co design electric locomotive to join Transnet's fleet after the heavy-duty Class 15E, which is used on the Sishen-Saldanha (Orex) route. Both these locomotives are single cab types.^[7]

Layout

Driver's station of no. 22-013

Compressor

Toilet

The Class 22E has a single cab and a gangway along the centre of the locomotive, while the interior layout and placement of equipment is as follows, from the cab towards the rear:^[6]

Left side

• Air conditioner.
• Low voltage cubicle.
• Service entrance portal and door.
• Power converter cubicle 1.
• Cooling tower 1.
• Ventilation cubicle.
• Traction motor blower 2.
• Integrated cubicle.
• Air reservoir 2.
• Braking resistor 1.
• Braking cubicle.^[6]

Right side

• Signal cubicle (19" rack).
• Battery charger.
• Traction motor blower 1.
• Auxiliary transformer.
• Cooling tower 2.
• Power converter cubicle 2.
• High voltage cubicle.
• Air reservoir 1.
• Air drier and main compressor.
• Braking resistor 2.
• Toilet, with a porta-potty and hand washbasin.^[6]

Dual voltage

Transformer specifications: 22-013

As on the dual voltage Classes 19E, 20E and 21E, the main electric circuit is automatically selected in either AC or DC mode, based on the voltage of the overhead contact wire feeding the locomotive. To facilitate automatic trouble-free transition on the run, the locomotive is equipped with onboard voltage detectors, while the overhead wire is equipped with two wooden isolators and a 3 metres (10 feet) length of neutral wire to separate the AC and DC feeds. The neutral section is connected to the rails, which serve as the return conductor on electrified lines.^[2][8]

Track magnet sensor

The transition process requires that the locomotive should automatically be switched off before it reaches the isolators and the unpowered overhead wire section, and automatically be restarted after exiting from under the unpowered wire. This is done by a pair of track magnets, one on either side of the neutral overhead wire and spaced 45 metres (148 feet) apart. The two magnets are mounted with their polarities reversed in relation to each other and they activate a magnetic relay, located behind the cowcatcher of the locomotive, to do the switching off and restarting.^[8]

Pantographs

Transnet Freight Rail insisted that the locomotive must be designed in such a way that the pantograph contact shoe centres are directly above the bogie pivot centres, as was done on the Class 7E and Class 7E2, Series 1 and Series 2, and again on the Classes 20E and 21E. The reason is to reduce the possibility of pantograph hookups on catenary in sharp curves, such as in turnouts, as a result of sideways movement of the pantograph in relation to the overhead wire.^[9]

Illustration

The pictures serve to illustrate the Class 22E from all sides.

• 
  No. 22-012 at Pyramid South on 22 September 2015
• 
  No. 22-009 at Pyramid South on 27 September 2015
• 
  No. 22-013 at Pyramid South on 22 September 2015
• 
  No. 22-045 at Koedoespoort, Pretoria on 29 September 2015

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Class 22E.

Locomotives of South Africa
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Electric	Amcoal Class E38 SAR Class ES SAR Class ES1 SAR Class Exp-AC SAR Class 1E SAR Class 2E SAR Class 3E SAR Class 4E SAR Class 5E s1 SAR Class 5E s2 SAR Class 5E s3 SAR Class 5E1 s1 SAR Class 5E1 s2 SAR Class 5E1 s3 SAR Class 5E1 s4 SAR Class 5E1 s5 SAR Class 6E SAR Class 6E1 s1 SAR Class 6E1 s2 SAR Class 6E1 s3 SAR Class 6E1 s4 SAR Class 6E1 s5 SAR Class 6E1 s6 SAR Class 6E1 s7 SAR Class 6E1 s8 SAR Class 6E1 s9 SAR Class 6E1 s10 SAR Class 6E1 s11 SAR Class 7E SAR Class 7E1 SAR Class 7E2 s1 SAR Class 7E2 s2 SAR Class 7E3 s1 SAR Class 7E3 s2 Spoornet Class 7E4 SAR Class 8E SAR Class 9E s1 SAR Class 9E s2 SAR Class 10E SAR Class 10E1 s1 Spoornet Class 10E1 s2 SAR Class 10E2 SAR Class 11E SAR Class 12E Spoornet Class 14E Spoornet Class 14E1 TFR Class 15E Spoornet Class 16E Spoornet Class 17E Spoornet Class 18E s1 TFR Class 18E s2 TFR Class 19E TFR Class 20E TFR Class 21E TFR Class 22E
Gas-electric	SAR Gas-electric
Diesel	3' 6" gauge Diesel-electric PRASA Class Afro 4000 SAR Class DS SAR Class DS1 SAR Class 31-000 SAR Class 32-000 SAR Class 32-200 SAR Class 33-000 SAR Class 33-200 SAR Class 33-400 SAR Class 34-000 SAR Class 34-200 SAR Class 34-400 SAR Class 34-500 SAR Class 34-600 SAR Class 34-800 SAR Class 34-900 SAR Class 35-000 SAR Class 35-200 SAR Class 35-400 SAR Class 35-600 TFR Class 35-800 SAR Class 36-000 SAR Class 36-200 SAR Class 37-000 Spoornet Class 39-000 TFR Class 39-200 TFR Class 43-000 TFR Class 44-000 2' gauge Diesel-electric SAR Class 91-000 3' 6" gauge Diesel-hydraulic SAR Class 61-000 3' 6" gauge Electro-diesel Spoornet Class 38-000
List of South African locomotive classes South African locomotive numbering and classification