Experts say Africa needs harmonised railway standards and seamlessly connected railway lines throughout the continent.
This is in addition to pushing for the standard railway gauge from Walvis Bay to Botswana and through to Johannesburg, South Africa. This is to allow the continent to have integrated and cross border railway networks.
African Union Commission (AUC) transport and mobility division head Eric Ntagengerwa says, for example, a metre-gauge railway line in southern Africa, connecting Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Angola and others would be important.
He was speaking at the third Financing Summit for Africa's Infrastructure Development.
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The summit is co-hosted by the AUC and the African Union Development Agency under the theme 'Capital, Corridors, Trade: Investing in Infrastructure for the AfCFTA and Shared Prosperity'.
"If you have a metre gauge railway line from South Africa crossing to the standard gauge that we are promoting between Walvis Bay in Namibia to Botswana, then to Johannesburg, that has to be seamlessly connected.
This is a very critical element," Ntagengerwa says.
The AUC transport boss says they are also looking at having at least a continental railway implementing agency to drive the railway agenda.
"The same way we were discussing one aviation sector where we have the African Civil Aviation Commission driving the air transport sector, we also need to have a continental railway implementing agency."
He says synergies between climate, digitalisation and industrialisation are critical to the railway sector because railways are seen as a central mode of transport and a green growth enabler that can support the reduction of carbon emissions.
Ntagengerwa says although Africa is doing a lot in terms of transport decarbonisation, once critical projects move they can make a difference in supporting efforts to decarbonise the transport industry.
"[We need to focus on] catalysing on local manufacturing capacity in Africa, rolling stock manufacturing and taking advantage of the huge natural resources that Africa has in terms of the minerals," Ntagengerwa explains.
Lastly, the continent is focusing on digitalisation to ensure the efficiency of railway systems and create smart operating railways through digital solutions, he says.
"We see a lot of examples in Africa. We have the Gauteng railway system in South Africa which is seamlessly connected using smart digital solutions.
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But we also have the Casablanca standard gauge, the TGV, which is a high-speed railway network connecting Casablanca and Europe.
So we are using those examples already existing in Africa to promote all our other priority railways to make smart operations," he adds.
International Union of Railways senior adviser for the African region Maria Lafont says although it is legally impossible to impose harmonised standards, there are good examples such as cross-border standards or exchange of items, which have been successfully implemented in many regions outside of Africa.
"There are quite a few other measures. Others already mentioned institutional coordination, legal framework and digitalisation.
I would like maybe to say a few more words about financing and investment frameworks, the necessity to attract private investment, having blended mechanisms, and mostly mobilising sustainable financing on all levels," she says.
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