Gautrain’s 15-km-long tunnel nears completion

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GAUTRAIN UPDATE

Gautrain’s 15-km-long tunnel nears completion

1 COMMENT

By: Irma Venter

17th July 2009

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Around 14 km of the 15-km-long tunnel of the multibillion-rand Gautrain rapid rail project has been completed.

The underground route of the Gautrain stretches from Johannesburg’s Park station to Parktown Ridge and on to Rosebank, Sandton, to where it surfaces at the Marlboro portal.

Construction of the train depot facilities, including the train system administration buildings and operations control centre, located in Midrand, is also complete.

This centre will be the heartbeat of the Gautrain, from where signalling, telecommunications, automatic fare collection, traction power and overhead distribution will be managed.

The Gautrain, which government esti- mates will carry 300 000 passengers a day by 2011, will see a minimum of six trains an hour running in peak times between Johannesburg, Tshwane and OR Tambo International Airport by 2011.

Here is a visual update of the 80-km pro- ject, first conceptualised in the late 1990s.

Edited by: Martin Zhuwakinyu

Topics in this article

City	Company	Facility	Industry Term
Johannesburg	Gautrain Rosebank	Gautrain Johannesburg’s Park Station Tambo International Airport	Telecommunications
Organisation	Person
Gautrain	Gautrain

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Readers Comments

All very well, but at what cost ? Did the Gautrain not first start life at about R3-billion and escalated to some R26-billion ? What is galling is that we are never really given the correct cost upfront - we are handed something more or less palatable...and then the sum slowly creeps up million by billion. And how and when will the electricity be provided for the envisaged trains, which, we hear will consume as much power as the City of Johannesburg ? Watch this space - the same will happen to BRT. Initial costs start at a modest R2-billion (Phase 1a?) and now we hear casually thrown around that the BRT is contemplating 330km at a cost R20-billion. Who will find all this ? At a fraction of the cost the MetroBus system can be kick-started back into a semblence of an efficient transport system.

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Picture by: Gautrain

MUSHROOM FARM PARK, MARLBORO TRACKLAYING Tracklaying within the first 2,5 km of twin-track tunnel from the Marlboro portal towards Sandton has started. Unlike the aboveground sections of the route where the rail tracks are supported on concrete sleepers and a conventional ballast system, rail track construction within the tunnels uses a trackform system specially developed for this type of application. This comprises precast concrete blocks attached to the underside of the rails, each of which are surrounded by a resilient ‘boot', which is cast into the concrete track slab

Picture by: Gautrain

DEPOT OPERATIONS CONTROL CENTRE Construction of the train depot facilities, including the train system administration buildings and operations control centre, is complete. The train maintenance workshops and the other depot facilities, including the washing bay for the trains are also complete and operational

Picture by: Gautrain

RHODESFIELD STATION, ON VIADUCT 15 Erection of the platform roof structure is complete, including cladding. At ground level, concourse building works are well advanced and parking area earthworks are in progress. The Rhodesfield station platforms are elevated and are located approximately one third of the way along Viaduct 15, directly above the existing Metrorail (now Prasa) railway lines running between Isando and Kempton Park. The station entrance, concourse and parking area will be positioned at ground level, on the eastern side of the existing railway lines

Picture by: Gautrain

VIADUCT FIVE, JEAN AVENUE Viaduct five carries the elevated alignment through Centurion and supports the elevated Centurion station platforms located about midway along its length. This viaduct stretches from the John Vorster interchange crossing the N1 in the south, and continues through Centurion to the Jean avenue interchange, crossing the Ben Schoeman highway in the north. Along this section, preloading, grouting and piling of viaduct pier foundations are ongoing, and pile cap and pier construction continues