Engineer Joster Imbuchi on Standards, Interoperability, and the Legal Foundations of Africa’s Railway Future

At the Continental Technical Experts Meeting on the Implementation of the African Integrated Railway Network (AIRN), held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 15–17 September 2025, Eng. Joster Imbuchi delivered a detailed presentation. It focused on the fundamental issues of railway standards, interoperability, technical specifications, and the institutional and legal frameworks required to anchor Africa’s railway ambitions in practical, enforceable systems.

The presentation addressed freight projections, infrastructure design, technical standards, digitalisation and lessons learned from international practice. More importantly, it situated Africa’s rail development within the context of long-term continental integration, investor confidence, and the need for a binding legal protocol under the African Union framework.

Freight Demand, Traffic Projections, and Political Considerations

Eng. Imbuchi began by addressing the scale of demand anticipated for rail transport across the continent. Citing recent studies, he explained that Africa’s freight volumes, currently around 162 billion tonne-kilometres, are projected to triple to over 550 billion tonne-kilometres within a 50-year horizon.

The original African Integrated Railway Network (AIRN) was designed in 2013 with a 50-year time frame extending to 2063. However, new studies undertaken in 2023 push projections further to 2073, thus providing a rolling 50-year time span (2023-2073), which highlights that traffic demand will be significantly higher than initially estimated. Underlining the urgency of scaling up both infrastructure and operational capacity.

Eng. Imbuchi noted that while political considerations had influenced some of the initial planning, such as ensuring all capitals were connected and prioritising routes to integrate landlocked states, economic realities must also drive decision-making. “We should not only respond to political imperatives,” he cautioned, “but more importantly to business needs.” For instance, where freight demand is commercially significant, railways must be prioritised to maximise impact on trade, industrialisation, and growth.

Defining the Targets: 2033, 2043, and Beyond

Within this framework, Eng. Imbuchi highlighted the ambitious targets Africa must achieve. By 2033, the master plan requires the development of 16,730 kilometres of new railway lines, covering 13 priority links identified across different regions. By 2043, an additional 53,000 kilometres should be in place, contributing to an overall additional network of 74,000 kilometres. This is in addition to the existing railway network in a mixture of track gauges, which is about 83,371 kilometres.

These figures, he stressed, are not abstract. They reflect commitments made by African Heads of State and the expectation that the continent will present concrete projects and investment opportunities, particularly at forthcoming forums such as the Luanda Summit.

Standards, Interoperability, and Technical Specifications

The central theme of the presentation revolved around the crucial issue of standards and interoperability. He explained that Africa cannot build a truly integrated railway system if each region or country continues to adopt divergent standards, be they European (UIC), American (AREMA), Chinese, or Japanese, as examples.

Normative Standards versus Technical Specifications

Eng. Imbuchi drew a clear distinction between normative standards and technical specifications:

• Standards are broad, voluntary guidelines prepared by industry bodies that provide general frameworks, such as axle load capacities, track gauge, or signalling principles. They can be chosen from among global options but require careful alignment to avoid conflicts.
• Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI) are binding contractual requirements tailored to a specific programme or project, in this case, the African Integrated Railway Network. TSIs ensure that equipment, infrastructure, and operations conform to a unified framework, allowing seamless cross-border and intermodal integration as well as ensuring quality and safety.

While standards provide the overall picture, TSIs translate them into enforceable detail. For example, axle load requirements, crashworthiness of rolling stock, or tolerances for track installation must be codified in TSIs to ensure operational safety and efficiency.

Lessons from International Experience

Eng. Imbuchi also highlighted historical experience from East Africa, where in the 1960s a single technical manual covered construction, operations, and maintenance across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. This integrated framework functioned effectively for decades and remains a model for what Africa must now re-establish at a continental level.

Africa must adapt international standards to its own conditions. The continent faces unique challenges: long distances (up to 13,000 kilometres north–south), diverse climates, lower traffic densities in some corridors, and significant shares of landlocked states dependent on neighbours for port access.

In some cases, standards may need to be lowered for financial viability, scalability, or local conditions. For instance, while axle loads of 30 tonnes are ideal for heavy mineral traffic, many lines may only justify 25 tonnes, or less initially, with upgrades phased in as demand grows. Similarly, platform height adjustments or signalling systems may need pragmatic adaptations.

Signalling, Communication and Train Control

Signalling and communication systems were identified as another area of concern. Eng. Imbuchi emphasised that this is a rapidly evolving domain, with new technologies emerging every few decades. To avoid fragmentation, Africa must limit the proliferation of incompatible systems and instead converge on a small number of harmonised solutions.

He suggested that aligning with European standards made the most sense, given Europe’s multi-country operating environment, its openness in disseminating research, and the potential for future interconnection via North Africa and the Middle East. By adopting European benchmarks, Africa can position itself within a global network that could one day extend seamlessly into Asia and Europe.

Building the TSIs: Scope and Content

Eng. Imbuchi proposed that Africa’s TSIs should cover six core areas, plus a seventh institutional dimension:

1. Infrastructure – track, bridges, and other civil works.
2. Energy Systems – electrification, power supply and related infrastructure.
3. Command, Control, and Signalling – including train control systems, interlocking and communications.
4. Rolling Stock – locomotives, passenger coaches, freight wagons, axle loads, crashworthiness and safety.
5. Operations and Traffic Management – rules for cross-border running, staff qualifications and emergency procedures.
6. Telematics and Digitalisation – cargo tracking, customs integration, intermodal compatibility.
7. Legal and Institutional Framework – protocols, regulatory frameworks, and dispute resolution mechanisms.

Each of these domains must be addressed through detailed technical specifications that integrate infrastructure, equipment, and operations into a coherent and safe system.

Institutional and Legal Anchors

Beyond the technical dimension, Eng. Imbuchi argued for legal and institutional frameworks to give the railway vision credibility. Political declarations are insufficient; binding commitments are required.

He pointed out that without a legal framework, cross-border projects risk collapse. A country could build hundreds of kilometres of track expecting its neighbour to continue, only to find the project abandoned at the border, wasting scarce resources.

To address this, he called for the adoption of a Protocol or other similar document on the Development and Operation of the African Integrated Railway Network, anchored in the Abuja Treaty. This protocol/ Document would:

• Create a binding commitment across member states.
• Establish enforcement, dispute resolution, and financing mechanisms.
• Strengthen the African Union Commission’s role, including restructuring and formalising the continental railway agency, Union of African Railways (UAR), which was created in 1972 but never formally institutionalised as an agency of the AU and which has had financial and management challenges.

Such a protocol, he explained, would provide the legal certainty that Member States, investors require, preventing projects from stalling due to shifting political priorities.

A protocol or other similar or equivalent instrument anchored at AU would provide a legal framework that would form a robust foundation for railway development and traffic operations within and beyond the boundaries of Member States and Regional Economic Communities. This would boost intra-African trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, facilitating trade in goods, services, enhancing social and economic mobility. He stressed that it is a vital step forward. Without it, Africa’s railway ambitions risk being undermined by fragmented standards, inconsistent political commitments, and the absence of enforceable instruments.

Engineer Joster Imbuchi: “Africa will only be built by Africans. Railways will only be built by the railway sector. If we do not know where we want to go, or fail to use the tools we have, our ambitions will remain unrealised. But with standards, technical specifications, and a binding continental legal framework, we can finally create the integrated network that Africa needs.”