EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE MOROCCO RAILWAY TRAINING INSTITUTE (IFF)
10 June 2022 / 11:29

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE MOROCCO RAILWAY TRAINING INSTITUTE (IFF)

Based in Rabat since its creation in 2015 thanks to an SNCF-ONCF partnership, the IFF (Institut de Formation Ferroviaire) of Morocco has been ISO 21001 certified. The Institute provides innovative modules directly linked to railway and transversal professions, intended mainly for operators of High-Speed ​​Lines, Classic Lines but also applicable to urban and peri-urban transport for Morocco, France and Africa.

With a tailor-made training catalog, the institute is sought after for its recognized know-how and expertise in Africa and even in Europe. In this exclusive interview with Africa Supply Chain magazine, the Chairman of the Board of Directors Karim Eddine CHENNOUF and the Managing Director Christophe Martin explain how the institute became one of the pioneers of training in the railway sector in Africa, the management of the center during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as its collaboration with several African operators such as GTS-SA in Senegal.

Chairman of the IFF Board of Directors since 2015, he forged his career in the railway sector at ONCF Maroc where he held various positions of responsibility, starting with the field of rolling stock maintenance as Manager of the braking systems maintenance workshop in 1987. Then, Head of the production department responsible for organizing and carrying out the maintenance program in 1992, then Director of the maintenance establishment for towed freight and passenger equipment in 1994.

Then, Head of the HR and General Affairs Department at the central management of Rolling Stock in 1996. It was there that he led the restructuring and reorganization plan for maintenance establishments and also ensured the management of the quality certification of these establishments.

In 2002, he was appointed Director of Human Resources at ONCF and oversaw the overhaul of the HR management system and the transition from the obsolete 1963 personnel status to a new, more motivating status.

In 2009, he was reappointed Director of HR and Legal Affairs at ONCF, during which time he was also responsible, with a joint ONCF/SNCF team, for the project to create the Railway Training Institute (IFF), which is a joint venture created by the two railway operators of France and Morocco and which welcomes trainees from both companies.

The IFF opened its doors in Rabat in 2015, the result of a partnership between SNCF and ONCF. What motivated its creation and how does the institute present itself?

The IFF project was born from the partnership between SNCF and ONCF within the framework of the Grande Vitesse Maroc project. Its first objective was to ensure the transfer of skills necessary for the operation and maintenance of a high-speed network. More than 600 ONCF employees were thus trained, making the company fully capable of mastering high-speed rail.

Beyond this simple transfer, the two shareholders of the Institute wanted to be able to encourage exchanges between peers: this is how French and Moroccan railway workers have been training at the IFF since the creation of the Institute.

Finally, on this basis, opening up to all operators in the region seemed obvious, in a context where there are numerous railway development projects on the continent.

IFF is one of the first training institutes specializing in rail transport in Africa, what analysis do you make of your market in the continent? Do you have any competitors?

We do not think in terms of competition. Operators on the continent did not wait for the IFF to provide training and build their own training centers. We want to complement the training offer available to each country by relying on innovative educational tools.

In this, the IFF has invested in educational models, simulation tools and distance learning devices that put it in a position to offer services while avoiding others having to bear significant investments. There are clearly training needs linked to the development of the railway on the continent.

Through our structure and our know-how, we offer training opportunities that provide skills in all railway professions and in the global approach to the railway system. Our trainers are experts in their field, with experience gained at SNCF or ONCF.

Rail transport is suffering in Africa and there is a gap between the Maghreb countries which are more advanced compared to the countries of sub-Saharan Africa in terms of rail transport, how do you explain this situation? Overall, what analysis do you make of the problems related to rail transport on the continent?

Indeed, there is clearly a certain gap in the development of the railway sector between different regions of Africa, mainly due to the public policies of each country but also to the fact that this sector is highly capital-intensive, which has relegated it to second priority in terms of investment in many African states.

However, we are witnessing a revival of this sector in recent times, as evidenced by the major projects completed or underway, which have established themselves as structuring projects for the development of Africa. The case of the high-speed train in Morocco "Al Boraq", the TER of Dakar are the most recent examples, but many other projects are current in the different regions of Africa.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE GENERAL DIRECTOR OF THE RAILWAY TRAINING INSTITUTE (IFF)

Having joined SNCF in 1987, Christophe MARTIN began his career in customer service. He held management positions at SNCF Voyageurs (marketing, service design, security and anti-fraud), in the Region (TER studies and projects) and in Ile de France (project manager) as well as operational management positions: Director of an establishment with 500 controllers, Operations Director and then TGV Director in Pays de la Loire where he managed a structure of 2010 agents (sales, stopovers, on-board service and telephone call center) from 1000 before joining IFF in July 2017.

For some time now, the IFF has been able to attract new operators in certain African countries, such as the Grands Trains du Sénégal (GTS-SA), which is asking you to train its agents. What is your ambition for this continent?

The IFF positions itself as a partner of the continent's operators, in the sense that it is able to offer three types of training:

  • “From the catalog” (all modules are available on our website www.iff-ma.com in the training section);
  • A la carte (by combining modules to establish training courses);
  • And also tailor-made, based on specifications established by the client. Our strength is also to encourage meetings between railway workers from various backgrounds, particularly when training takes place in Rabat.

Sharing experiences and technical visits are essential elements of training; we also adapt our practices and, when more relevant, we carry out training on site at our customers' premises to optimize training time.

Our experience also leads us to provide training consultancy and we support operators in improving the skills of their own trainers: teaching techniques and training engineering.

Let's talk about the Covid-19 pandemic which has not spared any structure in the world; how did you experience it at the IFF and what was your resilience strategy for the continuity of training?

Like everyone, we were hit hard by the crisis, with a reduction of almost 50% of our activity in 2020. We built a three-stage plan: resist, resume, relaunch. We had to resist the crisis with a total closure of the Institute for 3 months from mid-March to mid-June 2020.

However, we carried out urgent remote training during the months of closure, and the IFF team continued its work by teleworking. These three months were used to build recovery scenarios (including compliance with the health rules issued by the authorities) and accelerate the implementation of remote training tools, which was planned for a more distant horizon.

The recovery finally resulted in the implementation of distance learning courses to overcome the travel restrictions of trainees. We also repositioned some training courses at our customers' premises and continued discussions with our prospects and customers to build suitable offers. Thus, from mid-June 2020, we welcomed trainees back on site and were able to offer a certain number of distance learning courses.

 When the training courses include practical work, these have been postponed. What do you think of the Magazine, Africa Supply Chain?

It is a pleasant magazine to read and which gives a good overview of African logistics news, but also of global transport and logistics news. Keep it up!

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