Alstom's team in Brazil transfers technology to South Africans in the largest project in the company's history

Alstom Brazil is making the technology transfer for the manufacture of XTtrapolis Mega trains to South Africans, following the contract activities already in execution with PRASA (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa) for the modernization of the rail industry in South Africa. This step is being conducted by Alstom's team at Lapa unit, in São Paulo, the first passenger train factory in Brazil and Alstom's worldwide excellence center for the manufacture of stainless steel trains, responsible for the manufacture and delivery of the first 20 trains of this project. 

The technology transfer comprises training and development of South African engineers, designers, technicians, train drivers and technologists in the areas of Engineering, Quality, Logistics, Occupational Health and Safety, Project Management, Manufacture and Test and Commissioning. It is expected that, by end 2017, over 100 South African employees will be ready to operate at the Alstom plant that is being built in South Africa. The technology transfer process will be concluded by mid-2018. 

The newly hired South African employees undergo basic training in their respective areas of operation in their country and then travel to Brazil. Here, Brazilian employees serve as trainers for the South African team. This integration is necessary to conclude this project with the same quality that is executed in Brazil, and we are certain that the South African population will benefit from a very reliable product, celebrates Rosângela Tsuruda, General Director of the Lapa Unit.

The PRASA project, signed in 2013, comprises the supply of 600 XTtrapolis Mega trains along ten years to PRASA. With the first 20 trains manufactured in Brazil, the others will be made in the South African country, where Gibela - the consortium led by Alstom, with participation of local companies Ubumbano Rail and New Africa Rail - is building a 600,000 square meter plant in Dunnottar, 50 kilometers from Johannesburg. The new unit will also count on a 4,000 square meter training center which, at peak production, will be capable of producing 62 trains a year, boosting around 200 South African suppliers. In ten years, the project will create over 1,500 direct jobs at the plant in South Africa. 

The PRASA project is the largest in Alstom's history and reaffirms the company's goal of establishing itself as a leader in rapidly-growing markets, in addition to being a landmark in its strategy of increasing its global and local presence, thanks to solutions and partnerships that allow the company to be close to its clients wherever they are.