South African Class 21E

The Transnet Freight Rail Class 21E of 2014 is a South African dual-voltage electric locomotive for 3 kV DC and 25 kV AC lines. The first of the class, number 21-001, was rolled out at the CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company in China on 16 September 2014. Of the one hundred locomotives ordered, the first forty were built in China by Zhuzhou, a subsidiary of the China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation (CSR), and the other sixty in South Africa. It is an upgraded version of the Class 20E, which the manufacturer called the promotion version of the 21E, and looks almost the same. The axle load is raised to 26,000 kilograms with improved tractive effort to suit the Coalink line, and it uses an electronically controlled pneumatic brake system. The four-axle locomotive has an output of 3,000 kilowatts and a speed of 100 kilometres per hour, and up to eight can work together in a multiple-unit consist. The first two were delivered to Durban for acceptance trials in December 2014, and the class was placed in service on the 25 kV AC Coalink line between Ermelo and the Richards Bay Coal Terminal.