Connecting African Railways
With rising awareness of environmental issues, and increasing need for raw materials worldwide, railways are experiencing a comeback. In Africa, where development is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, freight trains are becoming big business, but safety is a major concern. How can mobile connectivity help the continent expand its network and guarantee safe travel?
Rail transport in Africa is relatively undeveloped,and represents only 5% of the world total. From a total of about 50,000 km of rail at the beginning of the 20th century, the African continent has seen its network self-destruct, mainly due to safety problems. The increase in the number of railway accidents on the continent is partly due to the lack of signaling, maintenance, and connectivity preventing proper communication and logistics. A number of organizations have documented the need for improving transport connectivity in the region in order to provide safer and more efficient transport services.
The rail transport sector has the potential to accelerate and intensify trade in Africa as it can offer fast, reliable and environmentally friendly freight solutions. It can also play an active role in economic development. Moreover, rail freight transportation requires less energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and lowers transport costs per ton. Rail transport is thus expected to play an important role in long-distance goods transport in the continent.
The railway infrastructure varies enormously region by region in Africa, and for this article, we’ll focus on freight transport specifically, rather than passenger trains. Raw materials (minerals etc.) are constantly being mined in Africa, and with the need to transport these materials to export ports, freight trains are seen as the best solution for carrying large amounts of bulk materials, efficiently. Concentration of mining activity in Africa is in Western and Southern Africa (see image below), and the implications of the quality of infrastructure on the freight business in these areas is significant.
Freight Trains Are Dangerously Unconnected
African rail freight accounts for 7% of global freight transport volume
but are dangerously lacking mobile connectivity . This results in clumsy operations and puts deliveries and their shipments at risk. In Africa, the population is only 22% connected. We can expect the number to be even lower for geographic coverage, but that number isn’t recorded.
At best, with unconnected railways, business goes on as usual, but suffers from inefficiency. At worst, unconnected railways lead to collisions and fatalities or lost goods. For example, many companies lack the necessary systems to keep trains communicating with each other. Too frequently 2 trains operating on the same rail, driving in opposite directions, are unable to alert one another that they are quickly approaching a collision. In real terms, this has resulted in accidents, and driver deaths. There’s no question that railway mobile connectivity can and should be improved.
What can connectivity bring to freight?
- GPS tracking
Exact location positioning and freight monitoring are two main ways that connectivity can optimize freight transport. Sensors that connect to the internet can be installed on freight cars, to send messages back to headquarters at regular intervals, or when the train hits certain destination marks. This would help fleet operators aid with safety, and prevent accidents. Not only would accidents be prevented, but timing in general would be better managed for intermodal transport, something which is especially needed with freight trains carrying materials that are needed to be transferred from rail, to road, to boat, for example, to export ports. Timing is essential in the logistics process.
- Real-time environment sensors
Additionally, temperature, vibrations, and moisture levels can be ensured with sensors for any sensitive materials. These capabilities will increase security and quality. A train carrying food that needs to be kept at a certain temperature, can be equipped with sensors that regularly collect information about temperature, or humidity.
Fleet managers of freight trains would then be able to check the aggregated data to make large scale decisions, or take decisive action when information shows a more urgent matter in real time.
To have freight in action without connectivity, is a waste of technology. Connectivity should be put to its best use, improving business and operations. And the Internet of Things is what that’s all about.
The Industry Calls for It
A recent position paper, adopted by the European Sea Ports Organisation, and the European Federation of Inland Ports, concluded, “A special focus should be placed on the investment in, and the development of, last-mile connections, connecting the national rail network via the port rail network to the private terminal sidings…calls should prioritize last-mile connections inside and outside the port area as a priority, and Member States should remove any legal or governance obstacle hampering the development of these connections.”
Connecting railways to the last mile cannot be achieved without effective mobile connectivity. The more connectivity, the higher the performance. Better connectivity also increases competitiveness, something which is of great importance to developing countries.
The expected increase in freight transport is visible in the visual below.
For Africa, the increase is expected to be the highest, therefore putting even a greater significance on the importance of connectivity for the future of freight.
Mobile Augmented Connectivity for the unconnected African railway
So how can African railway freight operations guarantee seamless services and delivery when the continent still suffers from unreliable, spotty and sometimes completely lacking mobile connectivity? This is where Be-Bound Augmented Connectivity comes in. Be-Bound Technology can solve the connectivity issues for the rail freight industry in Africa and therefore bring safer, more reliable and efficient rail transportation. Augmented Connectivity is a technology that optimizes mobile apps so they stay connected no matter the network conditions, even in areas with no internet connection (all that’s needed is a standard telephone signal: 2G/GSM). Our solution is made to help rail transportation to optimize their logistics and stay connected with their trains at all times. This could dramatically increase their revenue, growth, security, and safety.
