Anglo American Platinum’s Rustenburg Platinum Mines has placed an order with DCD Rolling Stock for 20 off new side discharge hopper wagons that will be used to transport platinum ore from the mine’s various shafts to the processing plant. Manufacture is underway at DCD Rolling Stock’s facility in Boksburg and delivery will take place from April to June 2013. DCD Rolling Stock has a longstanding relationship with Anglo American Platinum’s Rustenburg Mines spanning about 20 years that has seen the company supply a number of hopper wagons to the mine. Daryl Leggitt, Technical Manager at DCD Rolling Stock, says the company has also worked alongside the mine’s engineers over the past decade to adjust the design of certain hoppers to suit changing mechanical and safety requirements and to refurbish existing hopper wagons.

The design of the units in the latest order features a unique safety mechanism on the bottom discharge doors that prevents the doors opening accidentally in transit and creating spillage, which presents a major safety risk. “We call this a ‘central shaft over top dead centre locking device’ and it has been designed specifically for Rustenburg Platinum Mines,” says Leggitt, who adds that this is a significant order from the mining industry. “The device comprises three offset levers connected to the doors with three links per door. The levers have two end stops to ensure that they rotate over the centre position, ensuring that the doors cannot open accidentally. As an additional safety feature, a pneumatically operated interlock is included, featuring a cam and hook that lock into place once the doors are fully closed.”

The discharge hopper wagons, having a gross mass off 85 tons, have payload volumes of 26 cubic metres with 5 cubic metre volume reducers. The hoppers’ body and underframe comprise an all-welded construction utilising S355JR steel, delivering an increase in strength of about 18% compared to the previous hopper wagons supplied. The body ends, centre gable and volume reducer are angled to avoid any hang-up of ore during unloading operations. The wagons will be fitted with high impact and wear resistant body liners manufactured from Tivar GR12 material, 20 mm thick on the body ends and volume reducer and 12 mm thick on the lower half of the centre gable. The braking system combines vacuum and air brakes, with each system capable of operating independently. The wagons will also be equipped with two self-steer HS Mk VII bogies manufactured from new components to comply with the latest Transnet specifications.

International systems house
DCD Rolling Stock, part of the DCD conglomerate (previously DCD-DORBYL), operates as an international systems house with an in-house capability that allows it to offer a total rolling stock package, from design and manufacture, to refurbishing and modernising bogies and supporting the aftersales market for bogies, including supply of renewal parts. DCD Rolling Stock has its own accredited quality, environmental and health & safety systems in place — SABS ISO 9001:2008, Moody International BS EN ISO 14001:2004 and Moody International BSI OHSAS 18001 — which ensure that manufacturing processes are carried out under controlled conditions to mitigate their impact on the environment and to international quality standards.

DCD Rolling Stock has been in business for more than a 100 years, having designed and manufactured more than 130 000 wagons on Cape Gauge lines, 1 000 Electric and GE Diesel Electric Locomotives, and 4 000 underground locomotives. The Boksburg-based DCD Rolling Stock site, of which 40 000 square metres is under cover, incorporates state-of-the-art technology and equipment. The company holds the intellectual property rights on most of its manufactured products and has been granted licences for affiliated products from American companies such as McConway & Torley/NACO, Keystone Railway Equipment Company, Columbus Steel Castings/Buckeye and, locally, Railway Dynamic Systems for HS self-steering bogies.