Railways Africa NewsXpress: Week 30:2024
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Senegal To Develop Skills In Railway Sector
IFF, in partnership with SETER, is currently designing and piloting a new railway course at the Thiès Higher Institute of Professional Education (ISEP Thiès) in Senegal. This programme, funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), aims to develop railway skills to serve the interests of various networks and companies operating in Senegal.
From 8 to 10 July 2024, the Training Resources Manager from IFF, along with two expert trainers in track and signalling, visited Senegal to commence the first phase of the project. This initial phase focused on scoping and preliminary diagnosis, involving group and individual interviews with ISEP Thiès managers to assess the development of 10 future trainers and managers in four railway sectors: Track, Signalling – Energy and Telecoms, Railway Operations and Safety, and Rolling Stock Maintenance.
Following this assignment, IFF will proceed to phase two, which includes developing a support plan to enable the training of trainers and conducting pilot sessions.
Moçamedes Railways Meets With Ambassador Of India Accredited To Angola
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Moçamedes Railway, on Monday, July 15, received the Ambassador of India accredited to Angola, Vidhu Peethambaran Nair, at the CFM-Namibe Delegation of Representative. The meeting aimed to strengthen the ties of cooperation between the CFM and India in the railway domain, given that some of the rolling stock of the Moçamedes Railway is of Indian origin.
After the meeting at the Delegation, the diplomat visited the CFM offices at Saco-mar (Diesel Station), where he had the opportunity to see some Indian locomotives up close. António Coelho da Cruz took the opportunity to extend an invitation for India to invest in the area, highlighting its strategic importance.
The visit was attended by the Deputy Governor of Namibe for the Social and Economic Policy sector, CFM Directors, and staff from the Port of Namibe.
PRASA Board reinstates Zolani Matthews
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) board has reinstated Zolani Kgosietsile Matthews as the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), in compliance with the judgement by the Labour Court.
On 1 July 2024, the Labour Court ruled that Matthews’s contract was still valid after it was terminated by the PRASA board in December 2021.
The termination of the contract followed an investigation by a seasoned senior counsel that established whether Matthews deliberately and intentionally failed to disclose material information to PRASA in respect of his dual citizenship.
According to media reports, months later, retired judge Robert Nugent ruled that PRASA should reinstate Matthews with back pay during arbitration proceedings.
PRASA applied to the Labour Court to review Nugent’s ruling.
“Considering this decision, PRASA is now in the process of engaging Zolani Matthews to discuss the implications of the judgment. The organisation respectfully requests time and space to engage with Mr Matthews accordingly.
“The PRASA Board of Control remains committed to discharging its duties with the utmost diligence,” PRASA said on Wednesday. Courtesy SAnews.gov.za.
Knorr-Bremse South Africa Reaches Milestone In Supplying Components For PRASA’s New X’Trapolis Trains
Opportunity:
SIEMENS Mobility South Africa
Innovative Broken Rail Detection from Siemens MRX for African Railways:
Enhancing Safety and Operational Efficiency
Inside Colossal Concrete Products, Southern Africa’s Leading Railway Sleeper Manufacturer
In this Coffee with the Editor, Phillippa Dean, our Editor, is #trackside at Colossal Concrete Products. a leading supplier of precast concrete products for the built environment, with a primary focus on rail. As the largest sleeper manufacturer in Southern Africa, offering almost 40 different types of sleepers and a combined potential capacity of one million sleepers per annum across two facilities.
Chief Executive Officer Gwen Mahuma-Madida and Chief Operating Officer Mmapitso Kiewiet discuss the range of railway products supplied to the rail industry, their reach in terms of servicing the Southern African market and more information on their project factory options. Additionally, they address the turnaround in the rail sector and the vision of developing infrastructure products and services across the continent.
Colossal Concrete Products has a rich history dating back to 1928. Originally known as Grinaker, the company evolved through various names, including Ginaker LTA, Infraset, and Aveng Manufacturing Infraset. On 1 June 2021, Colossal Concrete Products, a Level 1 B-BBEE venture, became the proud owner of the Brakpan and De Aar precast concrete manufacturing facilities, previously operated by Aveng Infraset.
Today, Colossal Concrete Products continues its legacy as a powerhouse supplier in the railway and built environment.
The Future of Rail – High-speed Railway: Revolutionising Transportation
Presented by Konstantinos Tzanakakis from Rail Baltica.
The increased movement of both people and goods, resulting in congestion in the air and ground transportation systems, is one of the largest developments brought about by globalization and the revolution in the field of communications. Thus, there was a need for transport systems that could adapt to changing requirements: For distances that are both long enough for car travel and short enough for air travel, a medium-distance transport system was needed; high-speed rail meets this need.
The subject of this webinar is high-speed rail (HSR) and how it transformed the transportation industry.
Konstantinos will start by presenting the evolution of HSR and then will present key features of HSR (HSR vs conventional rail, engineering and technological innovations for HSR, and specific rolling stock technologies es like Maglev, Hyperloop). He will continue comparing HSR with other modes of transport and discuss shortly the environmental impact of HSR. Global examples will show the success of the development of HSR. He will present some aspects of the future of HSR, discuss shortly options for upgrading existing infrastructure for high-speed rail and finally present some initial thoughts about the possibilities of HSR in South Africa.
Join the webinar:
13th August
16H00 – 17H15 SAST
MS Teams: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/c6c4abc0-5af7-41f2-9b26-0323e98ecf18@fbb91b18-50c0-40e1-89a9-6be48766ad77
Ports And Railways Of Mozambique (CFM)
Celebrates Three Major Milestones
On 8 July 2024, the Ports And Railways Of Mozambique (CFM) celebrated three monumental milestones. The first being their 129th birthday, the second the completion of the first phase 42km for the dual track upgrade on the Ressano Garcia Line and lastly the expansion of the Passenger Railway Terminal at Maputo Central Station.
For the Ressano Garcia Line, which has been officially inaugurated by the President of the Republic of Mozambique, His Excellency Filipe Nyusi, CFM has funded this project themselves to the value of USD$ 80 million in response to the increased demand for rail and port services from neighbouring countries.
The project aims to increase tonnage volumes from the current 13 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 24 MTPA. To accommodate the future incremental increase in train length, the loops in stations have also been extended to cater for trains with 160 wagons.
For phase 2, which will connect Secongene to Ressano Garcia, the distance is between 17-19 km. Interest has been expressed by AFD, the French DFI financial institution, and due diligence has been completed with an estimated loan of USD$ 94 million for the second phase. The European Union is also involved through a grant for the signalling system, and the due diligence has been completed. This will go to the board in January.
At the same time, CFM has already started the process of recruiting consultants to do the detailed design study and it is anticipated that they will go to market in January for the works tender. It is estimated that within two years the whole project will be complete. The bottleneck will only be removed once the second section has been completed. This next phase will significantly increase the cargo flows from South Africa to the Port of Maputo, taking the operations to 40 million tonnes per annum.
The expanded Maputo Central Station terminal has been incredibly tastefully executed, keeping with the history of the building while offering modern facilities comparable with just about any passenger terminal internationally.
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