During the 13th Annual SARA Rail Conference that took place in Johannesburg from 20 to 23 August 2024, the Southern African Railways Association (SARA) and International Union of Railways (UIC) signed a cooperation framework, with its main focus being to enhance research and development, capacity building, and regional cooperation based on international best practices.

UIC is currently working on the final stage of the Future Rail Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) specification based on 5G technology, which will succeed GSM-R. In parallel, SARA is developing a rolling stock information system for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region as prescribed in the SADC protocol on transport communication and meteorology. These initiatives will facilitate the development, effective implementation, and monitoring of the SADC Regional Railway Infrastructure Master Plan which is being developed with support of the African Development Bank.

The first cooperative steps between SARA and UIC will be to establish a specific workstream to prepare for FRMCS testing in Africa, ensuring the capacity for all stakeholders to accommodate this new technology, as well as deliberate coordination for capacity building within core rail programmes.