The concern was expressed this Tuesday by the president of ATECFA, Mário Cuâmbua, who said that there are technicians who, with thirty years of activity, have never benefited from training actions, having asked for compliance with the law in the training and qualification of professionals.
"Technicians come to the sector, they are trained, but there are functions that must be certified, for example, the station manager, the driver, the shunting operator, there are some functions that must have a certificate issued by some regulatory entity", the person responsible told journalists.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 2nd Cycle of Railway Technical Conferences Angola Rail 2023, Cuâmbua said that training gives railway professionals greater competence and/or qualifications to be able to operate.
"There are cases where this [training and qualification] does not happen and if there is any failure, the technician is the one who is punished. Normally the failure reverts to the technician and does not revert to the institution", he highlighted.
According to the director, ATECFA wants to bring together public bodies, the association and training schools "so that technicians are trained and certified.
"It has to be like this, the technician cannot suffer punishment for an accident in which he was not the protagonist, but the fault was with the material", he maintained.
Mário Cuâmbua said that many technicians in the sector have been penalized, including with a salary freeze, whenever a train is involved in accidents, which, he highlighted, often happen due to technical failures.
Asked about who was responsible for certifying railway technicians, the president of the ATECFA board said it was the responsibility of the regulatory bodies, which, he believes, will have the issue on the agenda, adding that joint work will be done so that "this certification happen regularly."
"We are going to advocate for this purpose" and also for training, because "there are people who have been in the sector for 30 years and never go to a classroom and that cannot be the case", he stated.
Angola's railway network is made up of the Luanda Railway (CFL), the Benguela Railway (CFB) and the Moçâmedes Railway (CFM), employing thousands of technicians, many "without qualifications". specific".
Without providing the exact number of unqualified technicians, "due to lack of data", the president of ATECFA signaled the need for qualification, especially for professionals who work with passenger trains.
He recalled that the sector's law "requires" the qualifications of its participants, calling for "rigor" in complying with the legal provisions of the railway sector.
"We are just going to be strict in complying with the law, certification has always been carried out, what we just want is for it to happen regularly (...). We are now talking about a hydrogen locomotive, we are still using diesel, but we need qualification", shot Mário Cuâmbua.
The conference, promoted by ATECFA and public companies in this land transport subsector, celebrates the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Railway Safety Week and the 135th anniversary of the beginning of railway exploration in Angola.
