The 10th edition of the Distance Learning Course On Track Maintenance organised by ONCF, UIC Africa and UIC took place from 27 November to 1 December 2023 online.
Participants from 12 countries from North, West and Central Africa attended to learn about topics presented by ONCF colleagues on:
- Track maintenance and rehabilitation work safety
- Track maintenance and supervision: planning, organisation, monitoring, and control
- Track geometry: recording programmes and performance monitoring
- Rail defect classification and monitoring methods
- Maintenance and monitoring of engineering structures
Experts from the Asset Management, Infrastructure, and TTI Unit of the UIC Rail System Department lead a session on 1 December 2023 with the following presentations:
- Rosa Casquero, the Head of Unit, gave a presentation on IRS 70720 “Laying and Maintenance of Tracks with CWR” which is currently under development as part of the “Track installation and maintenance” series.
- Tuomas Kaira, Senior Advisor, discussed the maintenance of railway bridges, focusing on their definition and predicative maintenance, going into detail on steel, concrete, and masonry arch bridges, as well as transition zones and bridge inspections and monitoring.
- Jesus Palma, Junior Advisor, gave an introduction on the use of drones for railway inspections, and a general explanation on their applications in this context, such as the main benefits, the uncertainties and use cases examples, before finally providing an in-depth description of the use of drones for bridge inspections.
The session was well received and supports UIC Africa’s main management commitment to make training an absolute priority.
The Integrated Rail Network in Africa is one of the 15 flagship projects of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
