On track: Maintaining high standards for quality healthcare

Our company’s flagship CSI project, the Phelophepa healthcare trains, also known as Phelophepa I and II, provide services to rural and semi-rural communities along our operating lines and runs from January to September every year. Both trains are equipped with 19 coaches and state-of-the-art medical facilities, such as a dental clinic, eye clinic, health clinic, psychology clinic, and a pharmacy. Both trains also comprise of a fully equipped kitchen car, dining car, management coach (with boardroom), laundry coach, accommodation coaches (with restrooms), and transports 22 permanent passengers. It is no wonder then that the maintenance process for these world-class coaches can be quite extensive. We caught up with Andiswa Dikana from Transnet Engineering (TE), who leads the team that is responsible for the maintenance of both Phelophepa trains.

In October 2019, Phelophepa I and II were booked for maintenance at TE in Salt River, Cape Town, for a period of three months. Andiswa Dikana, Operations Manager for the Coach Business in Salt River, formed part of the team when the first healthcare train was built. She beams when she speaks of her role in the project: “In my current position, I am responsible for vehicle building, underframe work, bodywork, electrical work, paintwork, as well as independent support services such as product development, logistics, and procurement.”

At your service

The maintenance process began from the 2^nd week of October, 2019. Andiswa and her team conducted general assessments, which include servicing the fire extinguishers, checking the functionality of all equipment (mechanical and electrical), repairing lights, repairing all faulty vestibule door locks, checking vacuum hoses, and fumigating all the coaches.

The second stage of maintenance involved servicing the air-conditioners, electrical motors, and checking the water system for leaks to ensure that it is fully operational. Furthermore, controllers and wheel profiles were also checked, as well as all the electrical and sliding doors. Thereafter, each coach also received a deep clean. In the final stage, which was around December last year, the maintenance teams started testing the individual coaches electrically and mechanically to conclude the maintenance process.

Upon execution of all the maintenance work, Andiswa invites our Freight Rail department’s quality team to start verifying the completed activities. A checklist is used to verify if all the work has been completed, after which the commissioning of both trains can begin. The final stage is to couple the trains and get them ready to be sent back to their areas of operation to provide stellar healthcare to those in need.

Back in action

Patience and dedication from all team members are what makes this lengthy process run smoothly. But in the end, it is all worth it: “Knowing that our company’s Phelophepa trains bring much-needed medical assistance and hope to disadvantaged communities puts a smile on my face,” says Andiswa.

Phelophepa I and II are back on the rails and ready to deliver much-needed quality medical care services to remote communities in eight of South Africa’s provinces. The first stop for 2020 took place from mid-January to early February in the Eastern Cape, where the trains halted at Swartkops Railway Station in Port Elizabeth and Mthatha. In Port Elizabeth, the train also attracted the attention of the Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, as well as the local media.