Gautrain rapid rail link, South Africa

1st February 2013

By: Creamer Media Reporter

  

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Name and Location
Gautrain rapid rail link, Gauteng, South Africa.

Client
The Gautrain has been structured as a public–private partnership project.

The client is the Gauteng provincial government. The Bombela Concession Company is the private-sector partner, with Bombardier Transportation (17%), Bouygues Travaux Publics (17%), Murray & Roberts (33%), J & J (8%) and the Strategic Partners Group (25%) as shareholders.

Project Description
The Gautrain project comprises a modern state-of-the-art rail connection, linking Johannesburg, Sandton, Tshwane and OR Tambo International Airport. The network, which consists of about 80 km of railway line and which may be extended in the future, comprises two links – one between Tshwane and Johannesburg and another between Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport.

Besides the three anchor stations at Johannesburg Park station, Pretoria and OR Tambo, there are seven other stations: Hatfield, Centurion, Midrand, Sandton, Rosebank, Rhodesfield and Marlboro.

The project is expected to generate numerous benefits for Gauteng, including economic development, job creation, a world-class transport system and environmental benefits.

Value
The rail project cost an estimated R27-billion, as inflationary pressures caused the cost of the Gautrain to escalate by R1-billion.

Duration
Construction started at the end of September 2006. The Gautrain was completed in two phases.

Phase 1 was initially planned to last 45 months; however, it was completed three weeks ahead of schedule. It included the network between OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton, the stations at OR Tambo, Rhodesfield, Marlboro and Sandton, the bus and train depots and the operations control centre located near Allandale road, in Midrand.

The mechanical and electrical installation work was completed in January 2010, with the exception of some automatic fare collection equipment.

Complete area integration testing took place in February 2010, during which the main bus depot, a dedicated bus system that feeds into the train route, was also completed.

Military-grade thermal-imaging cameras were installed by the end of April 2010.

A trial running period of ten weeks for the Phase 1 section was completed in May 2010.

Trial running is a process that follows the completion of testing and commissioning activities, during which all systems and subsystems are commissioned and tested to demonstrate that they meet the required performance standards. This process is carried out under the control of an operator. It comprises numerous drills and exercises, familiarisation of staff with operating conditions and, during the latter stages, the running of the full system according to the service timetable.

On June 8, 2010, Phase 1 of the Gautrain rail system was opened for commercial service. The Phase 1 operations included the airport train service between Sandton station and OR Tambo International Airport, a commuter service between Sandton and Rhodesfield – with an intermediate stop at Marlboro station – as well as dedicated feeder and distribution bus services to and from the Sandton and Rhodesfield stations.

The remaining sections of Sandton station required for Phase 2 operations were completed in March 2011. These works included the podium slab over the station complex, the remaining parking facilities, the third platform to service the southbound line to the Rosebank and Park stations, and an undercover taxi terminus. The reinstatement of Rivonia road, which also formed part of these works, was completed and the road reopened to traffic in its final two-way configuration during December 2010.

Phase 2, which was constructed concurrently, was initially expected to be completed in 54 months; however, it was later announced that it would be completed in 57 months, in June 2011. The Gauteng Management Agency (GMA) stated in that same month that the second phase of the Gautrain would be opened at the end of July 2011 or early August 2011. The Bombela Operating Company was granted access to the full rail alignment between Rosebank and Pretoria, which includes all stations along this section of the route, in early March 2011. Under the control of the operator, trial running between Rosebank station and Pretoria station started on March 8, 2011, with trial running along the final links to Park station and Hatfield station having started in May 2011.

On August 2, 2011, the Rosebank-to-Pretoria link of the Gautrain rail project was opened. The remaining link, between Rosebank and Park stations, in Johannesburg, began operations in June 2012.

Latest Developments
The arbitration case between Bombela and the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) has been going on for 18 months and will, in all likelihood, take at least another two years to resolve, says GMA CEO Jack van der Merwe.

The Gautrain case involves delays and disruptions that Bombela says it experienced in construction work on the public–private partnership project and in related disputes.

Bombela says one of the issues, for example, is that the land on which construction had to take place was not provided by the provincial government as scheduled.

Murray & Roberts, a member of the Bombela Consortium, noted in September 2012 that the claim against the GMA was “a megaclaim . . .  with not hundreds of millions, but billions of rands at play”.

Van der Merwe says Bombela has to provide two types of evidence in its claim – that an event happened that makes it eligible for compensation in terms of the contract and that the value it has attached to the event is fair and valid.

“It is a very complex, time-consuming case, involving large amounts of money – in fact, the amounts we are talking about means that no-one directly involved really has the authority to settle the case outside an arbitration process,” notes Van der Merwe.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Bohlweki Environmental (environmental-impact assessment and biophysical and socioeconomic evaluation); Standard Bank and Rand Merchant Bank (lead arrangers, underwriters and sole lenders to the Gautrain project); Nedbank (agent bank to the lender to manage the financial transactions and the bank issuing project bonds to contractors); Arup SA (independent certifier); Tractionel Enterprise (supply and installation of the overhead contact distribution); Thales Transportation Systems and Sims (automatic fare-collection system); Bouygues Travaux Publics (tunnel-boring machine [TBM] operation); West Rand Engineering (valves, fittings and other consumables); Infrasors (aggregate and crusher sand); SPGIO (transportation of material excavated during construction); SA French (passenger hoists); Chryso South Africa (concrete admixture); SPC (concrete segments); Herrenknecht Engineers (TBM design and manufacture); Sarens (mobile-crane hire); Afri-Sam (supply of aggregate and 200 000 t of cement to the rail link's south section); C3 Shared Services, or C3SS (thermal-imaging equipment); ITT Water & Wastewater (drainage pumps); Railway Safety Regulator, or RSR (safety permit); Taemane Consulting (electrical engineers); and Atkins Global (detailed designs for 15 km of underground tunnels, three underground stations, seven emergency shafts, designs for the permanent way, alignment for the entire route and a cooling system).

On Budget and on Time?
The cost of the Gautrain escalated by R1-billion, owing to inflationary pressures.

Phase 1 of the project was completed by June 8, 2010, three weeks earlier than the original contractual completion date of June 27, 2010. The GMA announced in that same month that Phase 2 of the Gautrain would be opened at the end of July 2011 or early August 2011.

Delays were as a result of ‘pinch points’, such as the extensive dolomite, which can lead to sinkholes that the construction team encountered in Centurion, and the building of a complex bridge structure underneath Walker street, in Pretoria.

More recently, the completion of the second phase hit a technical snag in the tunnel section from Rosebank station to Park station, in Johannesburg, as more underground water was encountered in this section than initially expected.

However, the GMA said that it was not distressed by the delay, as there was no similar pressure on the second phase to begin on time as there had been with the first phase, which had to be ready for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The Bombela consortium will not pay penalties for the late completion of the project; however, Bombela contractors will incur the costs for the additional engineering works.

The Gautrain route, running between Rosebank and Park stations, in downtown Johannesburg, opened in May 2012, four to five months later than the prediction of the Gauteng government.

Contact Details for Project Information
Afri-Sam, tel +27 11 670 5500 or fax +27 11 670 5793.
Arup SA, tel +27 11 218 7600 or email johannesburg@arup.com.
Atkins Global public relations manager Jane Sheils, tel +44 13 7275 2350 or email Jane.sheils@atkinsglobal.com.
Bohlweki Environmental, tel +27 11 798 6001, fax +27 11 798 6010 or email info@bohlweki.co.za.
Bombadier Transportation media relations, Neil Harvey, tel +44 1332 266 470 or fax +44 1332 266 472.
Bombela communications and marketing executive Errol Braithwaite, tel +27 11 997 8222, fax +27 11 997 8011, cell +27 83 229 2243 or email errol.braithwaite@bombela.com; or Kelebogile Machaka, cell +27 83 725 6547 or email kelebogile.machaka@bombela.com.
Bouygues Travaux Publics, tel +33 1 3060 3300, fax +33 1 3060 4861 or email communication@bouygues-construction.com.
C3SS, tel 0861 2377 00, fax +27 86 500 9925 or email marketing@c3ss.co.za.
Chryso South Africa, tel +27 11 395 9700 or fax +27 11 397 6644.
Gautrain communication, Barbara Jensen, cell +27 83 600 4862 or email barbara@gautrain.co.za.
GMA CEO Jack van der Merwe, tel +27 11 997 8900, 
fax +27 11 997 8901/2/3 or email jackvdm@gpg.gov.za.
Herrenknecht Engineers, tel +49 7824 3020, fax +49 7824 3403 or email info@herrenknecht.de.
Infrasors, tel +27 11 234 0109, fax +27 11 807 2468 or email Contact@infrasors.co.za.
RSR, tel +27 11 417 0000, fax +27 11 417 0010 or email helpdesk@rsr.org.za.
SA French, tel +27 11 822 8782, fax +27 11 822 8922 or email info@safrench.co.za.
Sarens, tel +27 11 861 3800, fax +27 11 861 3899 or email info@sarenssa.co.za.
Sims, tel +27 12 665 4446 or fax +27 12 665 4337.
Taemane Consulting, tel +27 11 608 5000, fax +27 11 608 3333 or email gauteng@taemane.co.za.
Thales Transportation Systems investor relations, tel +33 1 57 77 89 02 or email ir@thalesgroup.com.
Tractionel Enterprise, tel +27 11 768 7373, fax +27 11 768 7376 or email info@traction.co.za.
West Rand Engineering, tel +27 11 952 9800, fax +27 11 660 3206 or email wreng@wre.co.za.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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