Collaboration advances railway intelligence, driving innovation, efficiency, and smarter transport systems across the region

The Huawei Railway Summit 2025 was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, alongside the SARA Rail Conference & Exhibition 2025.

The conference, themed "Digital Intelligence Empower African Railways: Safe, Efficient and Intelligent", attracted over a hundred representatives from transportation authorities, railway operators, industry partners, and experts and scholars from various countries in Southern Africa.

Participants came together to explore how digital intelligence can strengthen safety, improve efficiency, and drive the intelligent transformation of Africa’s railways.

Rail remains a vital link in Southern Africa’s economic development, yet the region continues to face challenges such as ageing infrastructure, low operational efficiency, and gaps in safety management. With freight and passenger demand on the rise, digital transformation is increasingly recognised as a critical pathway to boosting transport capacity, facilitating trade, and advancing socio-economic integration. Huawei and SARA hosted this forum to showcase advanced technologies and innovative solutions that can help rail operators across the continent meet these challenges.

At the opening ceremony on August 25, Victor Guo, President of Huawei Enterprise Business in Sub-Saharan Africa, emphasised the role of intelligence as a driving force for the region’s railways. “Digital Intelligence will become the key engine accelerating the development of railways in Southern Africa. Huawei is committed to working hand in hand with partners from various countries, leveraging our expertise in information and communication technology, video detection, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data. Through continuous innovation in specialised fields such as signaling, communications, locomotive operations, and passenger and freight transport, we aim to comprehensively enhance the safety, efficiency, and intelligence of railways, he said."

During the forum, representatives from several railway companies, including Southern Africa Core Railway Enterprises, shared their operational challenges and digitalisation needs. They engaged in in-depth discussions on technologies such as the FRMCS train-ground wireless standard, cloud platforms, and artificial intelligence. Huawei's intelligent railway exhibition area, which featured solutions like perimeter security for railway lines, TFDS freight car fault detection, and IOC intelligent operation centres, attracted a large number of attendees for interactive experiences.

At the Conference on August 26, Raymond Zuo, CEO of Huawei Smart Rail BU, stated: "African railways are facing a historic opportunity. We need closer cooperation, more open technology sharing, and more innovative construction models. Huawei will work with SARA to jointly promote the comprehensive improvement of railway safety, efficiency, and intelligence."

The railway sector in Southern Africa holds immense potential, and digitalisation and intelligentisation are the essential pathways to modernisation. This forum not only provides a platform for international exchange and cooperation in the regional railway industry but also highlights Huawei's commitment to actively participating in the ICT development of African transportation. Huawei will continue to inject new momentum into the railway development in Southern Africa, driving the industry towards a safer, more efficient, and intelligent future.

About Huawei

Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services – we are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world.

Huawei's end-to-end portfolio of products, solutions and services are both competitive and secure. Through open collaboration with ecosystem partners, we create lasting value for our customers, working to empower people, enrich home life, and inspire innovation in organisations of all shapes and sizes.

At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. We invest heavily in basic research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. By December 31, 2023, Huawei had 207,000 employees, more than 114,000 of which were R&D employees (55%). In 2023, our total R&D spending reached CNY164.7 billion, representing 23.4% of our total revenue. We operate in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people worldwide. In 2023, through the efforts of all employees, the company achieved an estimated annual sales revenue of CNY704.2 billion, aligned with forecasts. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.