Bakara Engineering
Bakara was formed in 2010 by two graduate mechanical engineers with the goal of providing innovative products and services to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and Transnet Engineering.
Bakara is a black-woman-owned specialist company focusing mainly on engineering design, manufacture and providing integrated solutions to our customers.
This was successfully achieved through being the first company to provide onsite passenger rolling stock maintenance in three regions in South Africa, becoming a partner in the Bombardiers Africa Alliance consortium in the Durban Resignalling contract, being accredited for electric motor- and wheel repairs and designing, manufacturing, supplying, installing and maintaining several new rail-rolling stock products.
Purpose and Values
Our Purpose:
We provide innovative engineering solutions for the rail rolling stock sector.
These can be applied to defence, maritime and other industries.
Our solutions aim at optimising the availability and the reliability of rolling stock in particular and other strategic assets in general.
Our Values:
- We ensure that we understand our clients’ needs
- We conduct ourselves professionally at all times
- We value our employees
- Our profits support our purpose
- We continuously improve
- our products and services
Quality is at the cornerstone of our business
Economic Outlook
The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the social and economic landscape around the world. Although disruptive in many respects, the marked increase in off-site workspaces and online meetings will improve business efficiency. Bakara has adapted to this new normal.
The African continent will become one of the largest markets for rail infrastructure and rolling stock in the world.
Initiatives to move goods from road to rail and opening the access of the South African freight rail network to private operators will have an hugely positive impact on the local manufacturing industry.
Bakara has been developing strategic partnerships with multinationals and prominent African and South African companies to enhance and diversify our technical expertise. This vision is
driven through three business divisions, namely Research and Development, Manufacturing and Projects.
The Bakara Engineering Solutions
Bakara is one of few rail engineering companies in South Africa that has undertaken both repairs of rail rolling stock and the design and manufacture of rail rolling stock components.
The company has introduced modern technology in parts that have had outdated designs and technology:
- Bakara was appointed by PRASA in January 2015 to prototype a new propulsion and control system (traction convertor) on the 5M2A motor coaches (Electric Multiple Units). This incorporates the latest IGBT (Insulated-gate Bipolar Transistor) semiconductor technology for variable speed drives.
- Bakara represents Glova Rail of Denmark and supplied and commissioned 80 vacuum-on-demand toilets for 34 luxury coaches built by Transnet Engineering for the Botswana Railways between December 2015 to May 2016. 18 of the Shosholoza Meyl long-distance passenger coaches were converted to this system in 2019.
- We were a partner in the Bombardier Africa Alliance consortium for the PRASA Durban Resignalling contract from May 2013 to December 2015 responsible for site establishment, rail telecommunications, project document management, construction site security, site occupation, the design- and equipping of the Central Traffic Control centre and the supply of signal-equipment rooms.
- Bakara has an agreement with Traxtion Sheltham for the repair of rail wheelsets in their maintenance centre in Rosslyn.