Part of the RSIS project is also to install a
common system working at South African Railway Association (SARA) in Harare. Its job is to keep track of charges when one railway uses the rolling stock of another and to calculate the charges due to the owner. We believe that the Interline wagon hire settlement system that will run at SARA is a world first, said Jabulani Nkosi, deputy project manager.
It will use one common data base downloaded from the main Spoornet RSIS system and cut down on costly and unproductive accounting activities. The closest analogy is the IATA Clearing House for settling air fare revenues.
As far as we can tell, there is no group of railways either in North America or Europe that has tackled this problem with one common data base to source the calculations, he said.
All the railways will be on -line to the IWHS via satellite.
USAID has provided most of the funds for
the RSIS Project through its regional office in Gaborone and working through SARA.
The key aim of the project is to improve customer service with a one-stop shop, better use of wagons, and a rail service that is more predictable for all the players in the logistics channel, said Nkosi.
Customers will start to see the first benefits
of the RSIS implementation when Swaziland and Botswana Railways go live in the next few weeks. Link-up of other railways is phased to take place in the first half of next year, he said.
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