​Gauteng youth are at the forefront of assembling, testing, commissioning and delivering new and modern commuter trains for South Africa. They are employed at the R1 billion electric train manufacturing facility in Dunnottar, Nigel, about 50km east of Johannesburg.
 It is at this 72-hectare plant where they are employed by the Gibela Rail Transport Consortium to build Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA)'s rolling stock of modern Alstom X'Trapolis Mega Passenger trains.
 Gibela is a joint venture between French rail company Alstom and South Africa's Ubumbano Rail. It has a R51-billion contract with government to manufacture 600 state-of-the-art trains by 2028. The scope of the contract includes train maintenance, technical support and the manufacture and supply of spare parts.
Precious Mkhwanazi (37) from Kwa -Thema was the first employee when the plant started operating in 2017. In 2018, she was sent to Alstom India for skills training as part of the technology programme. "I started semi-skilled, but today I am a trained electrical fitter. Working with Gibela has been an amazing opportunity for me to develop my skills", said Mkhwanazi.
On Monday, 4 July 2022, Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula and Premier David Makhura visited the plant to mark the 100 train production.
Makhura said the event is a major milestone in South African industrial production and job creation. "I am amazed at the number of young people trained in Brazil and India who work at Gibela. We are celebrating local manufacturing and the empowerment of young people.
"These trains are built by South Africans. We are re-industrialising. We are supporting the steel industry in our country and on the back of that, other industries.
We are empowering our people. Black people are at the forefront of building these trains," said Makhura. He urged South Africans to protect rail infrastructure against vandalism.
For this part, Mbalula said the plant is "developing new talent and producing young engineers who are some of the most skilled in the world."
The 100 train, he added is a giant leap towards an affordable integrated public transport network. "The commendable milestone of 100 trains brings us closer to reaching our target of 600 new trains. This is a massive testament to our trail policy plans", said Mbalula.
Since its launch in 2018, the activities of the Gibela-rail manufacturing plant have added R8.1 billion to the economy of the Gauteng City Region's Gross Domestic Product.
Furthermore, between 2019/20 and the 2021/22 financial year, Gibela spent R34.46-million on local suppliers in Alra Park, Benoni, Brakpan, Duduza, Dunnottar, Kwa - Thema, Nigel and Tsakane.
This project has created 2695 direct jobs since 2014. A total of 8209 jobs were created during the construction phase.
Beyond that, Gibela runs a community skills development programme that trains an average of 650 people a year. In the period between 2017 and 2020, a total of 2256 people were fully trained. In the 2021/22 financial year, 593 learners have taken part in this programme.
The company also runs a bursary programme for university, university of technology, technical and vocational college (TVET) students, and an internship programme.