#4674
South African Class 8M
🇿🇦 South Africa ·built by Sojitz· from 1987· class of 4-car South African electric multiple units
what is it?
The Class 8M are electric multiple units used by the South African Railways and later Metrorail.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 39 years ago, in 1987.
- Weighs about as much as 8 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 22.9 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
- Still in service after 39 years.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1987
- in service from
- 1987
- status
- in service
- number built
- 96
- kind
- Electric multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- builders
- Sojitz, DCD Group (Pty) Ltd, Hitachi
- operators
- Transnet Freight Rail, Metrorail, South African Railways and Harbours Administration
- top speed
- 110 km/h
- power
- 245 kW
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- electric system
- 3000 V DC overhead
- formation
- 4 cars
- length
- 22.9 m
- weight
- 47.4 t
- capacity
- 64 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q65249824, Wikipedia: South African Class 8M (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.