Posted on 30 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Gautrain’s Sandton-airport branch has been fully operational since 8 June 2010. The stations at OR Tambo International, Marlboro and Rhodesfield are complete and operational. Feeder bus services are running to connect with trains at Sandton, Marlboro and Rhodesfield stations. Four-coach trains running until 20:30 comprise – for airport travellers – two “airport” cars whose doors [...] [...more]
Posted on 30 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Between Marlboro station, where the airport branch diverges from the route to Pretoria, the maintenance depot and Midrand Station, all construction works and bridge structures, including Viaduct 3 crossing Allandale Road, are complete, as are all railway installations. Midrand Depot The operations control centre, together with the train and bus depot facilities located just south [...] [...more]
Posted on 30 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
VIADUCT 7 The deck to the section that will carry the Gautrain lines across Nelson Mandela Boulevard is well advanced and parapet erection is in progress. Pier and trestle beam construction is finished on the remaining sections of this “Y-shaped” structure that crosses above the existing Metrorail tracks. Between Gautrain’s Pretoria and Hatfield stations, a [...] [...more]
Posted on 30 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
VIADUCT 3 North of the depot, Viaduct 3 over Allandale Road and the adjacent bridge over the future K60 road are both complete, as are all other bridges, construction works and railway installations up to Dale Road in Midrand, with only minor finishing works outstanding. MIDRAND STATION Construction and building work at Midrand station is [...] [...more]
Posted on 30 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
PARK STATION Within the station itself, internal finishes are well advanced. Mechanical and electrical works are in progress, together with the installation of escalators. Erection of structural steelwork for the entrance pavilion on the southern side of Wolmarans Street was substantially complete by the end of July and construction was proceeding with the ventilation structure [...] [...more]
Posted on 30 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Emergency shaft E5 (Dunkeld, Rosebank Construction of the safe haven and technical rooms at the bottom of this shaft is complete, as is the installation of the structural steelwork access structure within the shaft itself. Construction of the head-house building will commence shortly. Emergency shaft E6 (Illovo) Construction of the safe haven and technical rooms [...] [...more]
Posted on 20 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
On 17 August, the Gautrain bus service, which operates feeder routes to the Sandton, Marlboro and Rhodesfield stations, came to a complete standstill when the drivers embarked on an illegal strike related to wage demands. The Gautrain bus operating company, Mega Express, was able to come to an agreement with the employees, who agreed to [...] [...more]
Posted on 13 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
In Fred Khumalo’s column, Johannesburg Sunday Times, 8 August 2010: “I embarked on my first Gautrain journey this past weekend, and it wasn’t as glamorous as I’d been promised. For readers out there in the sticks – in the visdorpie, in Durban-and-all, in Bapetikosweti and Pofadder – the Gautrain is this magical chariot which is [...] [...more]
Posted on 10 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Robin Ross-Thompson, writing in the Daily Dispatch, East London: “Used the Gautrain from OR Tambo Airport to Sandton and then back again two weeks ago … what a pleasure … and it’s a piece of cake. “The station is at the far end of the airport concourse from both arrivals and departure areas, so there’s [...] [...more]
Posted on 10 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Sifiso Tshabalala, writing to The Times, published in Johannesburg: “Whenever I see the Gautrain buses driving up and down the streets of Sandton, they are empty. Surely they can be operated more effectively. They should be open to the general public who wish to travel to other stops along the same route – a win-win [...] [...more]
Posted on 02 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
From the Johannesburg Sunday Times: “Politically well-connected ‘entrepreneurs’, including a senior ANC official, have ‘hijacked’ a company that landed a R220 million deal to build the Gautrain electrical system, by exploiting cracks in the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro). “This comes as a red-faced Cipro introduced new measures last week to prevent people [...] [...more]
Posted on 02 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
According to Anthony Butler, lecturer in politics at the University of the Witwatersrand: “The Gautrain is a ‘white economic empowerment’ elephant that has brought riches to the established construction industry. The Gautrain was conceived before the World Cup was secured, so its cost of perhaps R30bn – about the same as the stadiums -is never [...] [...more]
