Remodelling public–private partnerships, financing rail infrastructure and light rail as an alternative for passengers and intermodal networks for supply chain efficiency are a few of the topics that will be covered at the eighteenth yearly Africa Rail 2015 event, which will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre, in Johannesburg, from June 30 to July 1.

Event organiser Terrapinn is expecting 5 000 attendees, including African Ministers, private-sector stakeholders, global leaders in rail innovation, scientists and executives from rail operators and solutions providers across Africa.

Described by Terrapinn as “Africa’s longest- running and most successful railway event”, where “billions of dollars have either been initiated, concluded or influenced”, Africa Rail 2015 will provide a platform for stakeholders in the rail industry to learn from and network with one another.

Over the past year, $326-billion has been invested in African megaprojects and Terrapinn believes that Africa Rail will provide the opportunity for additional investment.

The event will take place in three halls, two of which will focus on rail and cargo, while the third will focus on ports and aviation. Technical seminars, keynote speakers, workshops and roundtable discussions featuring over 300 speakers will also be held.

Keynote Speakers
Africa Rail 2015 will feature speakers such as super-speed transport solutions company Hyperloop Technologies CEO Dirk Ahlborn, The Internet of Things (IoT) Council founder Rob van Kranenburg, Newcastle University’s rail and transport industry research department New Rail senior research associate Conor O’Neill and British rail company Crossrail director of operations Howard Smith.

Ahlborn will discuss the feasibility of Hyperloop in Africa. Hyperloop is a technology that can shoot capsules along a tube at close to the speed of sound, enabling passengers to travel 600 km in less than 40 minutes.

Van Kranenberg, author of The Internet of Things, will discuss merging the IoT – a computing concept that foresees everyday objects being connected to the Internet – with rail transport.

Based on research conducted at Newcastle University, O’Neill will deliver a presentation about the benefits of adapting Formula 1 racing car technology to trains.

The trio of speakers are scheduled to deliver their presentations on July 1.

Further, having raised £3-billion in rail investment, Smith, a former CEO of London Rail, is scheduled to speak on June 30, sharing insight on building a world-class rail line.

Country Spotlight
The 20-minute country-spotlight talks on day one of the event will focus on rail developments, challenges and prospects of countries in northern and eastern Africa, while the talks on day two will focus on southern and western Africa.

Egypt rail parastatal Egyptian National Railways operations GM Samy Abdaltawab Abdallatif Mohamed will highlight Egypt’s current and proposed rail investment for metroline expansion of $10.4-billion, while Belgium-listed rail company Vecturis chairperson Eric Peiffer will discuss the prospects and developments of rail in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including the current and proposed investment of $631-million in a multimodal transport project.

State-owned Kenya Railways Corporation MD Atanas Maina will, among other topics, discuss the $4-billion current and proposed investment in the country’s
3 230 km standard-gauge rail construction from Mombasa, in Kenya, to Kigali, in Rwanda.

Uganda parastatal Uganda Railways CEO Charles Kateeba and Ethiopia rail parastatal Ethiopian Railways executive Atinafu Adelo will be the last speakers on day one. They are expected to discuss the current and proposed investment in Uganda and Ethiopia, worth $13.8-billion and $16-million respectively.

On day two, Mozambique rail company Beira Railroad Corporation CEO Arvind Khare will discuss the $4.4-billion Nacala Corridor rail and port project between Mozambique and Malawi.

Namibia rail parastatal TransNamib acting CEO Hippy Tjivukua is also expected to provide an update on the $10-billion Trans-Kalahari, high-speed rail project between Namibia and Botswana.

Further, State-owned Nigerian rail utility Nigerian Railways CEO Adiesyi Sijawade and French-owned Cameroon national rail operator CamRail chairperson Hamadou Sali will discuss the $8.3-billion and $2.92-billion rail projects in their respective countries.

Ministerial Attendance
Africa Rail 2015 will welcome a host of transport Ministers from Zambia, Ghana and Zimbabwe, who will provide insight into their countries’ railway projects.

Zambia Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Minister Yamfwa Mukanga will discuss Zambia’s $1-billion current and proposed investment in its 580-km-long Zambia–Angola railway line on day two of the conference.

Ghana Transport Minister Dzivar Attivor, who will deliver his presentation on July 1, will discuss the $303-million investment received to strengthen and widen bridges, rehabilitate signalling and telecommunications systems and convert its eastern line – which has a 1 067 mm gauge – to standard gauge.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe Transport and Infrastructure Minister Obert Pofu will participate in a roundtable discussion in the ports and aviation hall, where he will focus on building efficient regional corridors in Africa. Zimbabwe’s rail projects have received $450-million in current and proposed investment to revive its rail system.

Roundtable discussion will also include topics such as ‘Responding to the skills shortage in Africa’, ‘Trends from international rail markets and their effect on Africa’, ‘Africa Rising – manufacturing companies moving from China to Africa’, and ‘Loco design for increased rail efficiency’.

Development Workshops
In addition to the main conference, Africa Rail will host three 90-minute hands-on workshops – two on the first day and one on the second day. The workshops will aim to merge theory with practice, and encourage train transport operators to follow new approaches.

The first workshop will cover skills development and procurement. Facilitated by State-owned freight rail utility Transnet human resources head Nonkululeko Sishi, this workshop will teach attendees how to involve and let local staff benefit from project developments, as well as how to advance technology skills and knowledge and to apply international best practice.

Intelligent Transport Solutions senior project manager Bob Wetzel will facilitate the second workshop, which will focus on optimising locomotive performance. It will also provide information and training on centralised monitoring and diagnostics, distributed power, locomotive remote control, fuel efficiency and speed optimisation.

Vecturis’s Peiffer will host a workshop on safety and security, which will entail effective emergency response, competence-based training and quality assurance.