https://www.miningweekly.com

180-plus rail employees qualify in operations management

19th January 2018

By: Samantha Herbst

Creamer Media Deputy Editor

     

Font size: - +

More than 180 employees of State-owned rail transport agency Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) last month with a variety of degrees and qualifications in railway operations management. GCU principal and vice chancellor Professor Pamela Gillies led the fourth -graduation ceremony, which took place at TFR’s School of Rail campus, in Esselenpark, Johannesburg, with speech on leadership from Transnet group CEO Siyabonga Gama.

More than 530 TFR employees have now successfully completed the programme since its establishment in 2013. The programme is designed to enable Transnet’s Market Demand Strategy for 2021 and has been extended through a new contract to continue to 2021.

TFR, which specialises in the transportation of freight, is making its undergraduate BSc degree in railway operations management and the new master’s degree programme core features of its talent-management programme to achieve the company’s seven-year growth strategy. The company aims to expand and modernise the country’s rail, port and pipeline infrastructure to promote economic growth in South Africa. Almost 1 400 employees at middle, senior and management levels will enrol from 2017 to 2021.

According to Gama, the new knowledge and skills attained during the programme speak directly to the company’s road-to-rail strategy, which seeks to increase rail freight and reduce the number of trucks on South Africa’s roads. “The men and women that we are celebrating today remain key players for Transnet to achieve this goal,” noted Gama at the ceremony.

For four years, GCU’s School for Work Based Education has worked in partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to deliver this bespoke programme to TFR.

The collaboration originated in a UK partnership with the Institution of Railway Operators. The sister programme in the UK is delivered to train operating companies and freight operating companies across the UK rail sector.

Congratulating the latest cohort of graduates, Gillies expressed her pride in the partnership between CGU, TFR, UJ and the Institution of Railway Operators that continued to develop, as the institutions cocreated courses to enhance the life chances of Transnet employees, -enabling the business to be as efficient and productive as it could.

“This activity is an important part of our enduring commitment, as the University for the Common Good, to provide educational opportunity [for] working people in Africa,” she said.

Meanwhile, GCU signed a new five-year strategic partnership in September to expand its portfolio of sector-specific railway -operations management programmes, in partnership with UJ.

The portfolio of flexible, work-based qualifications evolved from GCU’s successful 11-year partnership in the UK with the Institution of Railway Operators.

TFR is Transnet’s largest division, with 30 000 employees, and maintains about 80% of Africa’s total rail network. Transnet is investing about R7-billion in skills development and -training as it develops its infrastructure.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION