Gautrain-extension studies set to start soon

4th April 2014

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

The Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) will start feasibility studies on the 200 km of proposed extensions to the Gautrain route, as approved by the Gauteng government, by the end of June, says Gauteng Road and Transport MEC Dr Ismail Vadi.

The extensions will include a link from the existing Gautrain Park station to Westgate; a link from the existing Gautrain Rhodesfield station to Boksburg; a link from the existing Gautrain Sandton station to Randburg and Honeydew, and a link from Naledi, in Soweto, to Mamelodi, through either the proposed Gautrain Samrand station, or the existing Gautrain Midrand station.

This extension will include stations at Blue Hills, Sunninghill, Fourways, Cosmo City and Ruimsig.

Ultimately, the plan is to have four Gautrain lines, adding to the Pretoria–Johannesburg, and Sandton–OR Tambo International Airport links.

GMA CEO Jack van der Merwe does not want to provide a cost estimate for the proposed extensions.

Other interventions in the next three months include the introduction of a seventh eight-car train (up from four cars) during the morning peak periods. The Gautrain airport service will also start 30 minutes earlier and end 35 minutes later.

The current starting time is 05:20, with the last service at 20:30.

Vadi says the Sandton station parking terrain will also remain open until midnight, to accommodate passengers affected by delayed flights.

He says all these enhancements are necessary as the Gautrain continues to see a steep increase in ridership on the back of rising fuel costs and the recent introduction of e-tolling.

February 28 saw an all-time record for the Gautrain, with 62 500 passengers making use of the train, up from 49 000 passengers as recently as November last year, says Van der Merwe. Bus ridership currently runs at 23 000 passengers a day.

“The system is under pressure during peak hours,” notes Vadi. “There is quite a bit of overcrowding on some lines. We see ridership increases almost on a daily basis.”

Van der Merwe is hopeful the increase in ridership will see the current subsidy of R850-million to R900-million a year, payable to system operator Bombela, decrease sharply in the next financial year.

More Capacity Enhancements Planned
Capacity enhancements on the Gautrain system in the next six to nine months include reconfigured seating on the Pretoria–Johannesburg line. This includes a pilot study to determine efficiency and customer acceptance of cars with more seats.

The GMA will also reduce the headway between trains from 12 minutes to ten minutes, meaning one more train will run every hour during peak periods.

The agency will also complete the investigation on a special, quick-turnaround service on the system’s busiest route, between the Sandton and Centurion stations.

System enhancements in the next 12 to 24 months will include providing additional parking at Pretoria station. This is, however, dependent on environmental-impact and traffic-impact assessments.

Centurion station is to receive an additional 1 000 parking bays.
The OR Tambo International station will be lengthened to allow for four-and-a-half carriages to open on the platform, up from two-and-a-half.

The business case will be developed for the purchase of new rolling stock to further increase capacity.

Van der Merwe says the GMA will investigate using the same type of rail cars as those units which are to be built locally for the multibillion-rand Metrorail upgrade.

“They are of excellent quality and safe.”

The environmental-impact assessment for the Gautrain route extensions will also start during the next 12 to 24 months.

Gautrain system enhancements, more than two years out, include securing the funds from government for the proposed route extensions.

Van der Merwe says, as a cost illustration, that a train travelling on the ground costs R1, a train in the air R10, and a train underground R100.

He also notes that extending the Gautrain’s operating hours to late at night is not immediately on the cards, as it will affect the maintenance regime negatively, while also increasing costs substantially.

However, on March 1, the system operated late into the night, spurred on by several late-night, big ticket events in and around Gauteng.

Van der Merwe says 17 500 passengers made use of the Gautrain that night, with “fare box earnings higher than the costs incurred”.
“There is a business case for this, we are looking at extending the operating hours, but it will cost money.”

Van der Merwe adds that it will perhaps be necessary for government to take “a leap of faith”, with extended operating hours not immediately profitable, but becoming so in a relatively short period of time.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION