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The National railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) having participated at the Mining, Engineering and Transport Exhibition (Mine Entra) for the past 23 consecutive years has unearthed the potential, opportunities and growth aspects throughout the mining, engineering and transport value and its related sectors. In line with this, it has opened up its massive mechanical workshop facilities in Bulawayo for outside commercial jobs.

As a result of the initiative, NRZ Engineering workshops comprising of qualified engineering staff from four NRZ divisions namely Mechanical, Signals, Electrical and Bridgeyard, have been rebranded to Inter-Rail-Tech with the motto “Engineering drive for success”. The workshops are among the largest integrated engineering workshops in Southern Africa and are geared to provide a one stop solution to the mining and engineering industries.

Inter-Rail-Tech is generally into mechanical electrical and structural engineering, offering designing, fabrication, manufacturing, reconditioning, repairs, rewinding, servicing and consultancy as well as boiler and wire rope maintenance inspections. With qualified technical staff comprising of engineers, technicians and artisans; the NRZ has realized there is a huge market for Inter-Rail-Tech services. Inter-Rail-Tech is targeting mining, production, manufacturing and agricultural sectors as well as individuals to serve them, as it believes no job is too small or too large to execute.

The birth of the Inter-Rail-Tech brand came courtesy of its excess capacity in the form of idle machinery and hence accommodating outside jobs signifies the organization’s drive to unlock value and increase capacity utilization of these workshops. The gap in the market, for services offered by Inter-Rail-Tech came as a result of a number of companies based in Bulawayo, Midlands and the country at large closing down due to operational and economic challenges. This has prompted the NRZ workshops which have been receiving enquiries from industry across the board for the utilization of their services, to play a key role in standing-in for the closed industries.

Inter-Rail-Tech boasts of its wide range of industrial machinery and equipment CNC-Computerized lathe machine; balancing machine for balancing rotors, turbines and armatures; pressing machines which can press up to 150 Tons; a foundry; jack hammers for civil works; vacuum pressure impregnation plant; mobile cranes and bulldozer. It offers a one stop shop where a complete quality product is deliverable and is market flexible through barter deals.

The Inter-Rail-Tech projects speak volumes about NRZ’s future oriented thinking, coupled with zeal to consolidate our position of “Unlocking Engineering Capacity – Catalyst for Economic Growth”, allows us to set new trends within the engineering field. While traditionally formed to transport goods and passengers, our product offering has evolved over the years to reflect the new demands of our industry and country. NRZ’s Inter-Rail-Tech furthermore seeks to adopt total quality management and is working towards ISO Certification.

NYASHA MAVARANYIKA

PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

10 OCTOBER 2018

NRZ 121 years on…
By John Batwell
At the time, imperialist Cecil John Rhodes commented “the railway is my hand” since railways ranked high in his vision for opening up and developing the interior of the African continent. The arrival of the railway in Bulawayo led to the newspaper the Chronicle getting carried away – “Today is the parting of the ways for Matabeleland, the relegation of the old method of transport to the past and the beginning of civilisation in its entirety….”.

It had been four years since Dr Jameson’s Column had hoisted the flag on that wild syringa tree in the contemporary suburb of Sauerstown, marking the occupation of Lobengula’s capital and marking the birth of the Bulawayo of today. It was declared a town on 4 November 1893 and the trains began running in 1897. Editorial comment in October 1897 in the Bulawayo Chronicle said, “Bulawayo has been waiting for the railway like the Australian farmer waits for rain which shall bring him prosperity.”

Ox wagon transport from the South had virtually stopped owing to the rinderpest; freight charges to Mafeking were up two hundred pounds a ton; and the time it took consignments to reach Bulawayo roused the local merchants to great heights of fury. The early development of the territory took place at the pace of the ox. A fully-laden wagon
carrying over three-and-a-half tonnes ground and bumped its way over the rough transport road at little more than three kilometres an hour for some eight hours a day so at such a ponderous pace the almost 800km took a very long time.
Passenger travel beyond Mafeking was by coach conveying 12 passengers and mail but as Bulawayo quickly grew into an important distribution centre as gold mining camps and other settlements sprang up in the area, the extension of the railway from Mafeking was becoming imperative. The northward thrust from Mafeking, where the railway from Vryburg had reached in October 1894, got off to a slow start. At that time, Bulawayo was receiving more than two thousand heavy wagons a year from the south.

A passenger on the mail coach reported counting over a hundred wagons on the road between Palapye in Bechuanaland and Bulawayo alone. Such was the urgency for the rail connection to Bulawayo that the final 18 months of construction, despite problems including water shortages, was laid at the remarkable rate of a mile day, 640km in 400 days! As a result, the railway was in part laid directly on the ground with little or no ballast. Such
was the haste that the surveyors were often only a day or two ahead of the construction gangs and the route took the line of least resistance.

The development of the railways in Zimbabwe was directed essentially by the need to serve the towns, mines and farms which were fast being established and ultimately to link the landlocked country with sea ports. The link between Salisbury (Harare) and Bulawayo was completed in October 1902 and Salisbury was also, by now, connected to the Indian Ocean at Beira by rail. The line had arrived in Salisbury from Beira in May 1899. Rhodes had said, “We are bound, and I have made up my mind, to go on without delay. Let us see it [the railway] on the Zambezi in our lifetime.” It happened but not for Rhodes to observe personally as he died in 1902. The construction north-west from Bulawayo began in 1903, crossing the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls in September 1905 and reaching the Congo border by the end of the decade in December 1909.

As mentioned mining and agriculture in essence dictated the development of rail routes. Three decades of rail growth from 1900 had seen railway lines grow like tentacles penetrating much of Mashonaland such as Chinhoyi, Shamva and Kildonan whilst in the Midlands Eiffel Flats, Masvingo, Shurugwi and Zvishavane came to receive the railway; and branch lines in southern Matabeleland served Matopos (whom Rhodes believed everyone should be able to enjoy leisurely at week-ends) and West Nicholson. (Ninety-four years later West Nicholson was linked to Beit Bridge). Where the tracks did not go, the Road Motor Service (RMS) was set up, this having been introduced in 1927.

Up to 1927, the whole system was operated by Mashonaland Railway Company under the title ‘Beira and Mashonaland and Rhodesia Railways’ but as from the beginning of October 1927 the Rhodesia Railways Co. Ltd. became the working company. From 1 October 1936 the Rhodesia Railways Ltd. became the owners of the entire railway system in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Zambia and the Vryburg (Union of South Africa) – Bulawayo section. The Vryburg – Ramathlabama portion was purchased by South African Railways in late 1959. On 1 April 1947 the then Rhodesian Government acquired the assets of Rhodesia Railways Ltd. and on 1 November 1949 the railway undertaking became a statutory body known as Rhodesia Railways.

The railway line through to Beira in Mozambique was relinquished to that Portuguese colony in that year. On 1 July 1967 the system was divided at Victoria Falls bridge with Zambia Railways in the north and Rhodesia Railways in the south. Rhodesia Railways was redesignated Zimbabwe Rhodesia Railways on 1 June 1979 and finally National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) on 1 May 1980.
In 1987 the NRZ handed over the railway running through independent Botswana (former Bechuanaland) to that country which then took over ownership, management and operation from Plumtree southward.
To be continued

The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is concerned by increasing cases of vandalism and destruction of its points machines which is disrupting train movement and can result in derailments.

Points machines are used to direct trains from one track to another at stations, sidings and transit yards.

If the machines are tampered with, there is a danger of the points failing to open or close properly resulting in wheels going off the tracks, leading to derailments.

More than 20 points machines have been vandalised since the beginning of the year.

Repairing and replacing the machines is very costly to the organisation which is being forced to divert resources for other projects to repair damage caused by a few individuals out to enrich themselves at the expense of the national interest.

The acts of vandalism are taking place in both urban and remote areas.

If a points machine is damage beyond repair, it costs up to $25 000 to replace. Most of the points machines are being damaged beyond repair as the vandals try to get the fittings inside.

The NRZ would like to appeal to members to report to the authorities when they see suspicious activity on rail infrastructure or people tampering with railway equipment.

If they are not sure that people working on rail infrastructure are not railway employees, they should report to their nearest police station.

The NRZ also appeals to scrap metal dealers to verify the source of material brought by their clients as some from the points machine are being sold to scrap metal dealers.

Members of the public are advised that tampering with power operated points has negative consequences as they can result in loss of human life due to derailments while movement of people and cargo will be delayed awaiting repair of the machines.

The NRZ has a whistle blower programme which rewards people reporting cases of vandalism to its infrastructure or who help protect railway assets.

In June, NRZ paid school fees for a Form One pupil at Entumbane Secondary School Nozipho Sibanda through the whistle blower programme after she alerted authorities of a broken railway track near Sawmills thus averting a potential derailment.

 MARAVANYIKA

PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

21 September 2018