The graduation of 85 employees of State-owned logistics company Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) in rail sciences planted the seeds for future rail industry growth and formed an integral part of TFR’s R201-billion rail infrastructure roll-out plans, Transnet CEO Brian Molefe said on Thursday at the graduation ceremony at the TFR Esselen Park campus.

The employees, largely managers within the organisation, obtained BSc degrees in railway operations management, or higher education certificates or diplomas from the Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), as TFR intensified training to improve its service.

The GCU, headed by Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner and development financier Professor Muhammad Yunus, was focused on high-impact developmental training in keeping with its motto “for the common weal”, or common good, said GCU principal and vice-chancellor Professor Pamela Gillies.

The courses were created through a partnership between GCU, the TFR School of Rail, the UK Institution of Railway Operators and the University of Johannesburg to be highly relevant to the business and have a transformative impact on the graduates and TFR’s operations, she noted.

The graduates should be “rail votaries and teachers” to spread knowledge for future generations and ensure transformation to a prosperous, educated and stable Africa, added Molefe.

Programme participants were exposed to a wealth of new ideas and approaches in railway operations. The benefits to Transnet have been immediate and tangible – more skilful colleagues and an improvement in performance and productivity, he said.

Of its R312-billion seven-year rolling capital investment programme, Transnet set aside R7-billion for skills development in support of its aim to improve national and regional transportation and freight logistics.

“Training our people is central to our strategy of being a world-class rail service,” said TFR CE Siyabonga Gama.

The 15 BSc graduates received degrees in train movement control, safety law and management, railway engineering, operational planning, railway economics, emergency planning and managing operations.

Since the launch of the programme in 2012, nearly 600 employees have registered and an estimated 5 000 were expected to graduate through the programme over the seven-year period.