#5568
South African Class 18E, Series 2
🇿🇦 South Africa ·built by Transwerk· from 2009· class of 279 South African electric locomotives
10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Class 18E 18-609: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. Class 18E 18-670: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3. Class 18E 18-425: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 4. Class 18E 18-432: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 5. Class 18E 18-608: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 6. Class 18E 18-611: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 7. Class 18E 18-649: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 8. Class 18E 18-668: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 9. Class 18E 18-690: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 10. Class 18E 18-706 b: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 18E, Series 2 of 2009 is a South African electric locomotive. In 2000, Spoornet embarked on a program to rebuild Class 6E1, Series 6 to 11 locomotives to Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives. Most of the Class 6E1s which had previously been reclassified or modified to Class 16E or Class 17E respectively were rebuilt to Class 18E as well.
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 17 years ago, in 2009.
- Weighs about as much as 15 African elephants (~6 t each).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 2009–2015
- in service from
- 2009
- number built
- 279
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- builders
- Transwerk
- designer
- Union Carriage & Wagon
- operators
- Transnet Freight Rail, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- electric system
- 3 kV DC catenary
- wheel arrangement
- Bo'Bo'
- weight
- 88.9 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7565485, Wikipedia: South African Class 18E, Series 2 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.