New rail line fuels optimism at Majuba
One train fills power station’s silo about halfway with coal
● Majuba power station general manager Yangaphe Ngcashi is a happy man.
With a new rail line functioning optimally, the Eskom power station in Mpumalanga has taken a giant leap towards steady power supply to the grid and smoother operations on their home turf.
“The newly completed rail line is 26km long and runs from Palmfort to Majuba station in Mpumalanga,” Ngcashi told the Sunday Times this week.
In December, when interviewed by this reporter during a visit to Majuba, Ngcashi was already working hard at turning around the struggling station he took over 18 months earlier — when it was running at an energy availability factor (EAF) of 49%.
By the time the Sunday Times visited, Majuba’s EAF had improved to 60% but coal supply was a major headache.
“We get our coal through trucking. As you approached Majuba you will have seen the many, many trucks waiting to deliver,” Ngcashi said in December.
This week his coal supply issues have disappeared.
“The rail line from Palmfort was completed in January. We now have it running optimally and the Ermelo to Majuba line should be finished by the end of the year. The handover for Ermelo is planned for December,” Ngcashi said.
The new rail line has had a major impact on operations. “When you were here in
December you saw the hundreds of trucks queuing up to deliver our coal. We started running our new line at the start of the year and since then the number of these trucks has been dramatically reduced.
“We are so much better off than the last time I saw you. To put it in perspective, on one train I have 75 wagons. Each of those wagons contain 35t of coal. That is about 4,500t per train that we receive. One train fills my silo about halfway,” Ngcashi said.
“From this new rail line alone we now get three-and-a-half trains full of coal every day. The half is not really a half-filled train. We measure over a period of 24 hours and you will sometimes find a train arrives but is not fully offloaded by midnight, then the rest of that train will form part of the next 24 hours’ equation,” Ngcashi said.
Operations with more trains and fewer trucks were also simplified.
“A truck carries 34t of coal. It is not only a minute part of what we need, but it complicates matters way more than delivery by train.”
Too many moving parts make a mess. “With a train you mostly have one supplier. With trucks there can be as many owners or suppliers as there are trucks queuing up.”
Ngcashi believed the added rail capabilities to be a game changer for his power station.
“Absolutely. It is also now far easier to evaluate the quality of incoming coal at the siding than when it is delivered by hundreds of trucks coming from various suppliers.”
His days of trucking-in coal were not completely over.
“For now, you will still see some trucks, but we will be phasing them out until they are completely gone by the time the Ermelo rail line is handed over.”
Ngcashi is excited to see the change brought about by the returned rail capabilities.
“We sustained the 60% EAF we were running at in December and ended our financial year on that figure. It is still too soon to shout numbers, but I am very sure our EAF will have a massive upwards jump because of the trains.”
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said the national power supplier was satisfied with the rail progress at Majuba.
“This contributes to Eskom’s strategic objectives in that the trains promote efficiency, cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability compared to road transport,” Mokwena said.