Additional earlier and later trains for commuters

12th December 2014

By: Bruce Montiea

Creamer Media Reporter

  

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To continue offering safe, convenient and efficient service to passengers, rapid transit train Gautrain’s airport service from Sandton to OR Tambo International Airport was improved in August with earlier trains in the mornings and later trains in the evenings, says Gautrain CEO Jack van der Merwe.

The first trains in the morning now leave Sandton to OR Tambo as early as 04:50 and 05:10 respectively, and the last trains from OR Tambo to Sandton leave at 20:46 and 21:04, he says.

“These early and late train services do not stop at stations between the airport and Sandton station. This means that if passengers want to make use of the early or late service, they have to use Sandton station as their departure point and not any other station on the Gautrain route,” explains Van der Merwe, adding that the Sandton and OR Tambo stations will open and close 15 minutes before the first and last trains each day.

“The service is only available on weekdays and use has already rapidly increased by an estimated 3% of the airport daily passenger trips. The growth is expected to continue,” explains Gautrain senior executive manager for communication and marketing Dr Barbara Jensen.

She adds that there are no additional trains in the trips extension project. “We only operate four additional train trips every weekday with the existing rolling stock.”

Jensen says the impact of the extended use on the affected rail infrastructure is minimal. “The services were introduced within the operational hours of 04:00 to 22:00 with no impact on the engineering hours of between 22:00 and 04:00, when maintenance and repairs are done.

She adds that upgrades to the affected rail infrastructure to prepare it to meet the new demand were not needed. “However the implementation of the earlier and later services required major changes to operational procedures and processes, additional staff as well as changes to subsystems. Some of the subsystem changes, such as the automatic announcements on trains, will only be completed later.”

Jensen tells Engineering News that, in terms of the capital cost of the project, there is a commercial agreement with the operator of Gautrain transport company Bombela Concession Company to operate the additional train services without any additional costs. “Therefore, there were no additional costs spent on infrastructure and the required subsystem upgrades are part of the normal updating and improvement of the systems.”

She says the overall Gautrain airport service continues to show positive growth since it started operations on June 8, 2010. Currently, the service carries an average of 5 500 passengers a day.

Changing Gauteng’s Landscape
Since it started operating four years ago, the Gautrain transports around 55 000 passengers a day on its trains and at least 21 000 passengers on its buses.

“It has changed the image of public transport in Gauteng and continues to provide an integrated, safe, reliable and predictable public transport system,” notes Jensen.

The project has also assisted in achieving long-term economic sustainability and development in the province. “It is one of the biggest public–private partnership transport projects in South Africa and forms part of the Gauteng government’s long-term infrastructure development strategy for economic growth.”

Jensen says a detailed assessment and analysis of the current transport network in Gauteng was done as part of the province’s proposed 25-year Integrated Transport Master Plan (ITMP25). The plan was unveiled by Gauteng Roads and Transport (GDRT) MEC Dr Ismail Vadi in August 2013. “Key to the ITMP25 is to prioritise public transport, with the rail system being the backbone of the entire Gauteng’s transport network.”

The ITMP25 also provides a planning framework that will assist the GDRT, in collaboration with the Gautrain Management Agency and State-owned passenger rail services company Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, to develop and extend the rail network into an intergrated and efficient transport system, says Jensen.

She adds that Gautrain is on par with the best rapid transit train systems in the world and is a good benchmark for Africa as a whole. “Gautrain’s Sandton to OR Tambo International Airport service competed with the best in the world in terms of customer service and was consequently awarded the Global AirRail Alliance Award for customer service excellence in Oslo, Norway, in May.

The Global AirRail Awards are hosted by Norwegian airport express train company Flytoget. They are dedicated to the air-rail market and recognise practice in intermodal travel around the world. The awards also look at best services in delivering an enjoyable and stress-free journey between air and rail travel.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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