African railways consider buying locos in bulk

THE POSSIBILITY of buying
locomotives and rolling
stock in bulk as a bloc
was one of the proposals
on the agenda at last
week’s Union of African
Railways conference in
Vanderbijlpark.
The concept would offer
the financial benefits that
flow from economies of
scale although a number of
practical issues would need
to be addressed before
implementation, UAR
president Siyabonga Gama
told FTW.
As it celebrates its 35th
year in existence, the UAR
is revisiting its historic
mission and reassessing its
relevance and vision, said to
Gama.
One of the major
achievements of the past
year, in his view, has been
the acknowledgement by
members of the need to
change direction.
“There has been a
tendency to discuss issues
without doing anything
about them.
"We have now put
together working groups
responsible for publishing
best practice guidelines
on specific issues. We
had a huge agenda which
we have now broken
into three critical issues
– infrastructure and
rolling stock, human
resources development and
operational improvement.”
Integrated networks and
the need for borderless and
boundary-less economies
were key discussion points,
he said.
“If we look at the
movement of people and
freight, the AU is beginning
to move towards removing
borders but there are
challenges because some
countries are not at the
same level as others
“We believe that
common documentation
would go a long way to
facilitating the process and
that’s one of the practical
issues we are addressing.”