Nine years since the rapid rail-link project was conceptualised, the first Gautrain has taken to the test track at the multibillion-rand project’s train depot, in Midrand.

The Electrostar train has come all the way from rolling stock manufacturer Bombardier’s production site in Derby, in the UK, with the first locally assembled train to hit the track later this month.

Fifteen of the 96 Gautrain Electrostar railcars are being manufactured in the UK, while the body shells and some of the major components for the remaining 81 lightweight aluminium car bodies are being shipped in flat packs from Derby to Union Carriage & Wagon Partnership, in Nigel, for final assembly.

Gautrain Management Agency CEO Jack van der Merwe notes that this is the fastest Electrostar in the world, capable of speeds of up to 160 km/h.

“You can put a little stripe on it, and a double exhaust and call it a GT,” he quips.

Already the train has grabbed the attention of the very ridership it wished to attract, says Bombardier Transportation vice-president Dave Barry.

“When we tested the train for the first time [in January], people on the N1 stopped to take photos of the train. This is a really good sign for the project.”

The project team had to deal with a sometimes doubtful public since the Gauteng government’s intention to launch the project was first announced in 2000.

“Even today, there are doubting Thomases, but I’m telling you now – let it go – the train is here,” says Gauteng Local Government MEC Qedani Mahlangu.

The R25-billion Gautrain will operate between OR Tambo International Airport, Tshwane and Johannesburg by 2011, with the first phase between Sandton and the airport scheduled to be up and running next year, in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The rapid rail link will aim to attract 140 000 passenger trips a day, pulling its ridership largely from the congested Ben Schoeman highway between Johannesburg and Tshwane, as well as tourists eager for a hassle-free ride from the airport to Sandton, Tshwane or Johannesburg.

Van der Merwe says ticket prices are at this stage esti- mated to vary between R20 for a trip between Tshwane and Johannesburg.

The Gautrain project is being constructed by the Bombela consortium, consis- ting of international partners Bombardier and Bouygues Travaux Publics, with Murray & Roberts, black economic- empowerment company the Strategic Partners Group, the J&J Group, as well as Absa Bank the local stake- holders.

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