“Modernisation and digitisation are crucial developments that will drive the future growth of Southern Africa’s railway industry.” This is the key message Guoyu Wang, Vice President of Huawei’s Smart Transportation Business, imparted to delegates attending the Southern African Railways Association’s (SARA) 13th annual conference and exhibition at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
At the opening of the conference, SARA Executive Director Babe Botana, set the agenda for the day;
“Together, we will explore strategies to elevate rail transportation as a driver of sustainable economic growth on the continent.”
This event brings together transportation ministers from across the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with railway industry leaders and private sector partners like Huawei for robust discussions about how the region can develop safe, reliable, interconnected and smart rail services that support economic prosperity.
Wang’s speech highlighted key technological developments that will be central to creating interconnected rail services in Southern Africa. “Broadband, cloud services and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are increasingly influencing the digitisation of the railway industry,” he said.
Huawei has a long-standing partnership with leading railway partners across SARA operated corridors, this was further strengthened by a memorandum of understanding to promote efficient and cost-effective ICT solutions to rail operators in Southern Africa.
This includes supporting companies like the Passenger Railway Agency of South Africa (PRASA) whose railway recovery programme has been strengthened by Huawei safety innovations.
Hishaam Emeran, President of SARA and CEO of PRASA highlighted safety as a central issue as companies in the SARA region endeavour to modernise their railways and create an integrated transport system. He emphasised that the industry should “leverage public and private partnerships to build the railways of the future.”
Emeran told delegates that PRASA has repaired damage to 31 out of 40 rail corridors and brought them back into operation. As it works toward making rail the backbone of passenger transport in South Africa, he stressed that “we must prioritise the development and implementation of robust safety standards and invest in state-of-the-art safety technologies,” to maintain the integrity of rail networks in Southern Africa.
Huawei’s Smart Railway Perimeter Detection tools support PRASA’s e-guarding system to precisely detect intrusions through vibration-sensing optical fibres. This system enhances safety by using smart fibre optic sensors deployed every 20 kilometres to monitor vibrations that could indicate an attempt to get over a fence, break a fence to steal valuable infrastructure. When combined with AI tools, this smart detection product forms a highly accurate early warning system. It also monitors activity around mission-critical assets like substations, relay rooms, and railway tracks which are often targeted by criminals.
Wang’s presentation expanded on different ways that technology can improve railway systems. Using the example of costly and time-consuming maintenance requirements he showed how cloud platforms as well as big data analysis can be deployed to “reduce maintenance work from days to mere hours.”
New technologies can also be used to make passenger transport experiences more efficient. In China, for instance, dynamic rail scheduling tools are deployed on the country’s 45000-kilometre-high speed rail network to provide passengers real-time information about when their train will arrive and depart.
South African Minister of Transport, Barbra Creecy acknowledged that the region’s rail industry is grappling with multiple challenges like a lack of interconnectivity and standardisation. She called on attending operators across SADAC’s 40 000 km rail network to work together and embrace “the resources at our disposal, especially new smart security technologies, to overcome these obstacles.”
A panel discussion of SADC transport ministers and railway industry executives both delved into the conference’s theme of boosting continental trade via rail and how investments in African railways can lead to sustainable development of the continent.
Huawei is a long-time player in the continent’s transport sector, and it remains committed to supporting the modernisation objectives of Africa’s railway industry. Its track record of being an active supplier of ICT solutions to railway and metro customers since 1996, with the company’s digital railway solution deployed on more than 150 000 km of railway lines around the world, speaks to how seriously it takes these commitments.
