Leveraging global railway insight into South Africa and Africa

Abstract

Paper presented at the 26th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 9 - 12 July 2007 "The challenges of implementing policy?", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. ABSTRACT:Railways no longer dominate land transport, but are corporate citizens of a complex, multivariate, economic-, political-, and social space. In entering the industry’s third century, railways will differ from their forebears in the first two, because their environment has changed. Research on a globally-representative database revealed latent factors driving railways into distinct clusters. This paper analyses genetic railway technologies and variables grouped by Competitiveness, Market, Networkability, Ownership, Presence, Society, Sustainability, and Time, to reduce global railway industry complexity to a level where usable insights emerge. It concludes that railways in South Africa and Africa are not progressing because of endemic impediments to global adaptation. An agenda to build capacity as worthy global corporate citizens is therefore recommended.