An uphill task

The railroad is a tough call for locomotives and their drive systems: it would take 10 to 12 hours to ascend the 33 per mille incline. "That's a gradient that goes well beyond the scope of European load profiles," said Dave Nicol, rail applications specialist at mtu South Africa.

Madarail, Madagascar's national rail company, is especially proud of its Alstom diesel-electric Type AD16 locomotive that was repowered using mtu's 'repower kit' in 2013. That gave the locomotive a new lease of life, and can handle the slopes with athletic ease. The scope of supply covered everything needed to integrate the engine into the locomotive – from the generator flange and switchgear cabinet to the complete automation system (comprising ECU 4, PAU Engine and PAU Traction), and all mechanical and electronic engineering services, as well as refurbishing the Alstom alternator.

The repower kit was devised by Peter Pfitzke, project leader, and Werner Knoll, application engineer. Working together with Dave Nicol and his mtu South Africa’s Application Engineering colleagues, they supported Madarail staff throughout the rebuild measure, which took just 7 months. Since Madarail staff had limited experience of high-tech drives, success very much depended on them forming a close-knit team.