( 4 minutes read)
· South Africa’s Gibela, the largest railway coach and engine manufacturing unit in the continent, is building the country’s next fleet of high-tech trains to replenish several coaches that were destroyed in the pandemic
· Railway stations in the country, which were under lockdown due to the pandemic had to bear the brunt of large scale looting and plundering by the anti-social elements
· The factory has in its order sheet has contracts to manufacture 3,600 coaches or 600 complete trains — including wagons and engines by 2030
South Africa’s Gibela, the largest railway coach and engine manufacturing unit in the continent, is building the country’s next fleet of high-tech trains to replenish several coaches that were destroyed in the pandemic due to theft and plundering by antisocial
elements. Railway stations in the country, which were under lockdown due to the pandemic had to bear the brunt of large scale looting and plundering by the anti-social elements. Cables, signals and other equipment were stolen.
Unguarded stations were ravaged and plundered. It is found that more than 80% of the stations were unguarded. Thieves plundered anything that they came across including cables, handrails, bricks and doors. Importantly, the government has laid a lot of importance to modernize the urban transport systems. Ironically, these incidents had happened at a time when such initiatives were underway. Estimates put that a
substantially large investment is needed to put the rail system on the operational path.
The coach and engine factory –Gibela-is situated around 50 kilometres east of Johannesburg- Nigel- a small town, which perhaps can boast of only this high tech coach factory. The factory is known for manufacturing people’s train, a euphemism for its capability to manufacture coaches of various hues and sizes using the state-of-the-art equipment installed. The factory has in its order sheet contracts to manufacture 3,600 coaches or 600 complete trains — including wagons and engines by 2030. The factory has produced more than 50 complete trains since 2018. Sixteen of them have been deployed
in Cape Town and Durban. The rest will be sent to various regions shortly. In value terms, this would work out to US$ 3 billion, a substantial order, which can lead to a better bottom line and can generate employment to a large number of people.
Gibela rail transport consortium comprises French rail company, Alstom (70%) and Ubumbano Rail (30%). Established in 2013, as a black economic empowerment (BEE) program, it is actively engaged in the manufacture of rolling stocks for the railways including engines. The company is fully involved in the post Covid rehabilitation plans to
boost employment. Recently, it has called applications from eligible candidates for the 210 bursaries it is offering this year, for post-matric study in an array of engineering-related fields as a part of its social outreach program.
