Progress
In 1989 T-Track was first offered to the South African Mining Industry, and the first underground installation was done at President Brand Mine. Since then, some 600 km of track has been installed in the mining industry.
The first South African and International patents were also registered in 1989 The first surface track for freight traffic was laid at Consul Glass in Wadeville in 1990. This has been followed by many successful applications, particularly in South Africa, but also in the USA and Canada. Some of the surface installations convey in excess of 2.5 million gross tons per annum, with axle loads up to 32 tons.
In 1993/94, Spoornet’s world-class Track Testing Centre, (www.spoornet.co.za) was commissioned to carry out comprehensive testing to validate the early theoretical work done by Ove Arup Inc. A control test was done on an equivalent length of Ballast track. These tests validated the design procedure, and demonstrated very clearly the dramatically reduced stress.