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 (BCC) 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 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 might be extended in the future, comprises two links – one between Tshwane and Johannesburg and one 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 OR Tambo, Rhodesfield, Marlboro and Sandton stations; the bus and train depots; as well as the operations control centre, located near Allandale road, in Midrand.

The mechanical and electrical installation work was completed in January 2010, excluding 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, the 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 the 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
No specific method, timeline or costs have been finalised yet to remedy the water ingress, excessive to contractual specifications, into the Gautrain tunnel between emergency shaft two (E2) and Park station, says Bombela Concession Company technical and marketing executive Errol Braithwaite.

An arbitration tribunal in November 2013 ruled on the tunnel water ingress dispute between the Gauteng provincial government and the Bombela Concession Company, ordering Bombela to undertake remedial work on the Gautrain tunnel section between Johannesburg Park station and E2 to stem the inflow of water into the tunnel.

Emphasising that the functionality and safe operation of the rail system are not threatened by the inflow of water into the tunnel, the tribunal also found that the tunnel section between Johannesburg Park station and E2, as well as the section between the Rosebank station and the Marlboro portal, has not been built in accordance with the contract specifications, as detailed in the concession agreement.

Bombela built and now operates the Gautrain project on behalf of the Gauteng government.

Options to comply with the arbitration determination have been the subject of an intense study by a panel of local and international technical experts, and a report on the matter was submitted to Bombela and the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) in July last year, explains Braithwaite.

“The way forward is now being considered and will be agreed upon in the best interests of the project between the province, Bombela and the subcontractors responsible for the work.”

Braithwaite notes that most of the tunnels on the Gautrain project have been designed and constructed as drained tunnels, which is a common international approach. This means that the tunnel is designed specifically to allow for limited amounts of groundwater to seep into a purpose-built drainage system inside the tunnel to relieve external hydrostatic pressures.

In accordance with this design approach, the presence of water in the Gautrain tunnel drains neither affects train operations in any way, nor the safety or integrity of the tunnels, states Braithwaite.

GMA CEO Jack van der Merwe indicated in November 2013 that while the inflow of water into the Gautrain tunnel did not endanger the Gautrain operating system in the short term, government remained concerned about the longer-term impacts this might have on the environment, as well as the operating system.

The GMA oversees Gautrain operations on behalf of the Gauteng government.

According to the overall tunnel specifications, the water flowing into the tunnels has to be limited to 1 ℓ per 1 m2/d, while local specifications for the specific section of the tunnel affected require a water inflow limit of 10 ℓ for every 10 m of tunnel every minute.

Water ingress into the tunnel connecting the Park and the Rosebank stations has been a contentious issue since the outset of development, delaying the opening of this leg of the Gautrain route by some four months in 2011.

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?
Not stated.

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, tel +44 13 7275 2350.
Bohlweki Environmental, tel +27 11 798 6001, fax +27 11 798 6010 or email info@bohlweki.co.za.
Bombadier Transportation media relations, tel +44 1332 266 470 or fax +44 1332 266 472.
Bombela, tel +27 11 997 8222, fax +27 11 997 8011, cell +27 83 229 2243.
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.
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.