Richard Bucksey has worked in rail safety and compliance for more than 20 years. Until his retirement in 2023, Richard was the Compliance Manager for Traxtion Africa, who operates trains throughout Southern Africa. In this role, Richard was responsible for Rail Safety, Occupational Health and Safety, and the Environmental and Quality management systems. Richard has interacted with the Rail Safety Regulator for many years and has served on some of their technical committees. He has clear memories of receiving one of the first Rail Safety Permits issued by the Rail Safety Regulator. For the first batch of Rail Safety Permits, there was a formal ceremony where the Minister of Transport, Jeff Radebe, handed over the certificates.
At Traxtion, Richard compiled SHE and Quality Manuals for every site, audited all the sites annually, chaired management review meetings, and applied for Rail Safety Regulator permits. At one stage, he was also involved with the applications for Aviation licences for AMO’s, ATO and Chartering, as required. He was part of Traxtion’s Exco committee for 5 years from 2017 until his retirement. Richard still assists Traxtion with occasional site audits, risk reviews, etc.
Richard’s technical background stands him in good stead to manage the technical aspects of safety management. His early career was as an Electrical Fitter (Signals) in Transnet Freight Rail’s Signal department, where he later became a Senior Engineering Technician. In this role, he planned budgets and the design of cabling requirements for the 3-year Port Elizabeth – De Aar electrification project, commissioning of electronic signalling equipment, and fault finding.
Richard holds a National Higher Diploma in Electrical Engineering (Light Current) T4 from Cape Technicon, and a BCom degree from UNISA with majors in Quantitative Management (Project Management) and Business Economics.
Tim Fox is a Professional Engineer with over 40 years of engineering and management experience in rail maintenance, rail operations and logistics.
Tim holds a BSc (Mechanical Engineering) from the University of Cape Town and a Master’s in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa (UNISA). He has been a professional engineer since 1979 and is also a member of the Southern African Institute of Industrial Engineering.
At Transnet Freight Rail, Tim worked in various roles, including Depot Engineer (Diesel Locomotive Maintenance), Regional Mechanical Engineer, Rail Services Manager, Operations Manager, and Expansion Projects Manager (Manganese).
Tim served on the local Transnet inter-divisional committee for the opening of the Ngqura Container Terminal.
Before retiring from Transnet, he was given “Legends” awards by both the General Manager of the Manganese Business Unit and the Chief Executive Officer of TFR.
Tim currently focuses on operations improvement and rail safety for various companies. In 2023, the Minister of Transport appointed him as a Port User Representative on the local committees for the Ports of Port Elizabeth and Ngqura, as well as on the National Ports Consultative Committee.