Railways Africa
On Thursday December 7, 2017, the International Union of Railways (UIC) held its 91st General Assembly (AG) in Paris, bringing together more than 180 senior managers of railway networks around the world.
On the agenda of its work are the presentation of the report of the activities carried out in 2017 and the adoption of the action plan 2018.
During this statutory meeting, Morocco was unanimously re-elected, represented by, Mr. Mohamed Rabie KHLIE, Director General of the National Office of Railways of Morocco (ONCF), to the presidency of the Africa Region; this second term covers the period 2018-2022.
ONCF has continued to share its experience and know-how with African networks as well as technical support and assistance as part of their upgrading and modernisation programme. Without being exhaustive, and in addition to a battery of initiatives for the reinforcement of the inter-railway network cooperation:
Conducting a prospective study on the definition of a rail revitalisation strategy in Africa by 2040 that has been validated and endorsed by the African Ministers of Transport at the Conference held on this subject in Malabo in April 2014 in Equatorial Guinea, thus constituting the medium and long-term development road map for this vital sector;
The organisation of 12 conferences / seminars (at a rate of two per year on average) around topical themes for African networks, having mobilised 85 experts and the participation of about 1600 managers from 25 countries representing different regions of the continent.
The completion, of the ONCF training center, offering ten training courses focusing on safety, railway safety as well as maintenance of the track for the benefit of nearly 200 African railway workers supervised by 75 ONCF experts.
Information visits and knowledge sharing for the benefit of more than fifty African delegations.
Mr. Mohamed Rabie KHLIE, recently held a working meeting with the leaders of NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) and a dozen African railway networks that focused on the review of the actions to be implemented. Looking specifically at the realization of an integrated high-speed continental railway in Africa, as a flagship project on the 2063 Agenda.
ONCF is positioning at an international and regional level, to contribute to the development of a reliable and viable African rail transport system, which supports sustainable mobility and economic inclusion of the continent, strengthening the South-South cooperation in particular and improving the competitiveness of the African continent.
