A major renovation programme of TransNamib locomotives is part of the company’s strategy to become one of the greenest rail companies in the world.Instead of electrifying the over 2 300 kilometres of rail in the country, the company is looking at using green energy in the form of hydrogen fuel cells, says Johny Smith, chief executive officer of TransNamib.“Our investigations show that it would be cost effective to retrofit our existing f leet, which is running on 30-year-old diesel technology,” he says.The company is also investigating ways of introducing wireless signalling.“Here our biggest advantage is that more than 80% of the rail lines are already covered by cellular connections.”All locomotives are already being tracked wirelessly, and individual wagons will soon have their own transponders as well.
