For the iron ore export line between Sishen and Saldanha, class 15E electric locomotives were built since 2009. Like the 9E from the 1970s, which was also only used there, they are designed for the system used there with 50,000 volts of alternating current. This is used in order to require fewer feed-in points for the large total outputs required. The locomotives were developed by Mitsui and built at the Union Carriage & Wagon Works with Toshiba electronics.

The ore trains consist of 342 cars with a payload of 100 tons each, which consist of three sections of 114 wagons each and a total of 41,400 tons. There were originally a total of nine to twelve locomotives distributed between the sections, which were divided into class 15E electric locomotives and various GE diesel locomotives, as the power grid did not allow for completely electric drive. Over time, the number of electric locomotives was increased and at the same time the number of diesel locomotives was reduced, so that there are now five 15E units.