Photo Credit-Infrastructure News
Similar to large parts of Africa jumping to mobile/phone-based Internet instead of using fixed-line access first, African railway operators should have been called upon to build systems that make use of the recent advances in technology from the onset, , so says Henning Seeschaaf, senior venture architect, Deutsche Bahn (DB).
Henning Seeschaaf was speaking at the just concluded Africa’s largest Rail Conference & Exhibition event held from June 12-13 at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa. He said that African railways could avoid the mistakes of the past and invest in the new areas, not the old ones.
In increasing the capacity of the network, trains can, for example, send themselves for maintenance should it be required. In increasing the capacity of the network, the system can rearrange itself should a train be delayed, in an attempt to work around the problem.
Seeschaaf who joined DB this year will in his new role be setting up new digital businesses in the fields of smart mobility, smart logistics and smart city and thereby also signalling the move for DB from a traditional German railway firm to one providing mobility solutions to rail operators in Africa and other parts of the world across the value chain.
Vera Songwe, executive secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, while speaking during the conference, said the continent needed to bring in the private sector “in a bolder way” to finance railways on the continent.
She added that listing, or corporatisation, could also serve to increase the efficiency of rail companies, enhancing their competitiveness and ensuring better governance. The backbone of rail investment in railways in Africa would, however, still be public sector finance, she noted.
This year’s exhibition sees more than 150 exhibitors from across the globe bringing cutting edge products and solutions from energy & power, engineering & consulting, enterprise management systems, equipment, maintenance, freight & logistics, IOT and analytics and much more.
For 2018, Africa Rail hosted the leading railway operators from across the continent in order to facilitate meetings and business connections.
It is the only event bringing together the continent’s railway operators, government, end users and multimodal sector to enable collaboration and business meetings.
With the explosion of new and innovative transport companies over the past 12 months, Africa Rail presented one of the biggest opportunities in the continent as those who attended had the opportunity to visit the start-up zone to meet ground breaking start-ups in African transport.
From humble beginnings as a small conference with a handful of participants and for two decades, Africa Rail has become the undisputed platform to share project updates and international case studies from world leading operators in the rail sector.
Meanwhile, October 2-3, 2018 has been fixed for the Africa Rail Evolution conference. The event will emphasise the benefit of rail upgrade and maintenance projects by highlighting new technology, projects finance and localisation to drive commercial success.
The forum is geared toward an African audience, with the goal of accessibility to trade corridors and to enhancing cross border trade among African countries and connecting the continent through a rail system that is reliable, efficient and safe.
Industry experts and participants will have the opportunity to be beam searchlight into the future capabilities of railways in Africa and touching on ways to amplify your service offering
