Gautrain

The rail system was built by Bombela Concession Company, a partnership between Bombardier Transportation, Bouygues, Murray & Roberts, the Strategic Partners Group and RATP Group, the J&J Group, and Absa Bank.

Initial civil works for the Gautrain started in May 2006 and construction commenced after the signing of the Concession Agreement between the GPG and the Bombela Concession Company on 28 September 2006. The main civils contractor was Murray & Roberts.

The project was constructed simultaneously in two phases. The first phase involved the section between OR Tambo International Airport, Sandton and Midrand, the second the remainder. The construction of the first phase was scheduled to take 45 months, the second was for 54 months, with completion in 2010 and 2011.

• Construction
• 
  Viaduct support pilons, Midrand in November 2007
• 
  Viaduct in Spartan in September 2008
• 
  Viaduct at OR Tambo International Airport in April 2009
• 
  Construction at Midrand station in May 2010

By the end of May 2008, nearly a third of tunnelling was completed, and excavation of the tunnels was completed on 11 September 2009.

A mixed-face Earth Pressure Balance Shield Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) was designed and built in Germany by Herrenknecht specifically to cope with complex underground conditions and was the first such machine employed in South Africa. The TBM, named Imbokodo (meaning "rock"), installs pre-cast concrete tunnel lining segments behind it as it moves forward. It leaves behind a watertight and smooth lining to the 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in) diameter tunnel.

Sandton station in August 2010

The first public passenger trip was made on 3 February 2009 by 150 people on a 3 km (2 mi) test track at the depot.

The first part of the System, between Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport, opened to the public on 8 June 2010, in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The route from Rosebank to Pretoria and Hatfield commenced operations on 2 August 2011, while the remaining section from Rosebank South to Johannesburg Park Station opened on 7 June 2012, due to higher than anticipated underground water ingress into the railway tunnel.

For the first time ever since its opening to the public in 2010, the Gautrain system had been put to halt since 27 March 2020 as part of the lockdown measures taken by the South African government during the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] Passenger services have started to progressively resume on 4 May 2020.[4]

Gautrain tracks in Midrand

Although the national railway network in South Africa uses the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) Cape gauge, Gautrain is built with the more expensive international standard gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in). According to the Gautrain planning and implementation study, this is done for several reasons, including that broader gauge is safer and more comfortable to passengers. The rolling stock is also easier, quicker and less expensive to obtain than Cape gauge rolling stock, and is also less expensive to maintain, as it is more tolerant of track imperfections than Cape Gauge. The 1435 mm gauge allows for travel at Gautrain's required speed of 160 km/h (99 mph). The overhead line voltage is 25 kV alternating current (AC) as is standard in many countries.

Although increased flexibility could be obtained by keeping the system interoperable with the South African railway system, a strong case exists for keeping Gautrain separate from the existing network. According to the Gautrain planning and implementation study, an interoperable network may impact service delivery, increase the operating cost and tarnish Gautrain's image.^{[citation needed]}

Security cameras are operational and security guards patrol all the stations and parking areas. Only passengers who have an electronic ticket have access to Gautrain's stations and the parking areas. Motorists can travel to the stations and leave their cars at the safe parking bays that are next to the train stations. Parking at the stations costs R24 a day for a rail user, however if a passenger does not remove their vehicle within an hour after arriving at the station, they will be charged R100. Car rental offices are also planned at stations.

Ten stations are in operation:

• Hatfield (at grade)
• Pretoria (at grade)
• Centurion (elevated)
• Midrand (at grade)
• Marlboro (at grade)
• Sandton (underground)
• Rosebank (underground)
• Park Station (underground)
• Rhodesfield (elevated)
• OR Tambo International Airport (elevated)

Various South African and international engineering disciplines and engineering firms collaborated in the design of the system as a whole. Midrand, Centurion and Pretoria stations were designed by Terry Farrell of England. Each platform is 160 metres in length. Marlboro, Rhodesfield and OR Tambo International Airport Station's internal fitout and platform envelope were designed by Jaco Groenewald and GAJV team. The OR Tambo International Airport Station envelope was designed by Izi Martinez during the OR Tambo International Airport upgrade. Rosebank and Johannesburg Park stations were designed by Atkins - Urban Edge architects joint venture.

Critics have questioned ridership estimates, stating that government officials almost always overestimate ridership to gain political approval for projects, and cite numerous international examples where similar projects operate at massive losses or were aborted. However, by October 2010, passenger numbers were in line with previous predictions, and growing.[15] Within 100 days of opening the first phase of the system for the public, 1 million passengers were recorded.[16] As of February 2013, passenger volume was around 40 000 per day by train and 12 000 by bus. This is lower than expected in terms of passenger numbers, but this is partially offset by a longer average trip length (50 km vs the expected 30 km). Peak volumes are higher than expected, though, which can be addressed by adding more coaches during peak times, and reducing the headway between trains from 12 to 10 minutes ahead of the intended 2015 schedule. Tolling on Gauteng highways is also expected to lead to higher passenger numbers.[17]

Critics pointed out that the project would use the majority of available national and provincial transport funds in a context where massive amounts were needed to deal with widespread traffic congestion and commuter transport problems nationally and in the province. The existing railway system in the province, under national rather than provincial control, which serves the majority of the population, was severely underfunded and large-scale and violent public unrest caused by inadequate and old trains had manifested in the province. Critics alleged that options like rapid bus transit could achieve similar levels of service at a fraction of the costs, however, the estimated 62,000 daily riders requires a capacity unfeasible by BRT.[18] These matters were never submitted to a public debate as the project was designed and launched within the confines of the Gauteng Government bureaucracy.

The environmental benefits of the project are also disputed and the environmental impact assessment (EIA) revealed that Gautrain would at best be environmentally neutral. South Africa uses coal-based electricity generation and the electricity required for Gautrain would come from outside the Gauteng region. The pollution associated with the generation of this electricity would therefore effectively be exported to the Mpumalanga region, an area already under severe strain from air pollution. According to the Gautrain's website, the Gautrain has half the carbon footprint versus a motor vehicle.

In November 2005 Dunkeld community in Johannesburg decided to contest the alignment in its suburb. Legal action launched by the Muckleneuk / Lukasrand Property Owners and Residents Association (MLPORA) in 2004 (Case No. 28192/04) and an urgent application launched by MLPORA in 2006 went before the High Court of South Africa on 1 August 2006. MLPORA inter alia opposed the original environmental authorisation granted and the legality of the procedures being followed to approve variant alignments proposed by Bombela. In Pretoria the Gautrain skirts the inner city and cuts through the city's second oldest suburb (Muckleneuk) and high-density residential areas and the middle of the city's educational precinct on its way to Hatfield. The alignment as proposed would result in the prevention of the future development of the cities' education precinct, an urban district with the potential to become a space of national significance. Legal action was also brought by AECI in January 2006 which had not yet gone before court. Approximately 10% of the route traverses AECI-owned land. A dispute with the Centurion Association for a Reasonable Environment (WeCARE) was settled in favour of WeCARE in March 2006. Further legal challenges were expected.

Critics question the growth and job creation benefits that the project will bring. The EIA for the project determined that it is a poorly performing public sector investment project. The project sponsors have been silent on the social benefits that could be gained from alternative public sector investment programmes.

On 29 January 2006 the draft environmental reports on possible variant routes were released for public comment, without prior warning, with 30 days to comment on them. The variant alignment proposals are primarily cost-cutting measures proposed by the concessionaire, Bombela. Acceptance of these proposals will lower overall project costs and raise their profits. The released draft EIA reports were compiled by experts without public participation and are being fast tracked through the system by the Gauteng Government. Environmental management plans (EMPs) have already been compiled for these route variants. In law EMPs are meant to mitigate environmental impacts identified in consultation with affected parties. The decision to approve the released EIAs and EMPs vests with the sphere of government that is bringing the project application, namely the Gauteng Government. The process followed raised serious questions regarding the audi alteram principle and the protection of the environmental rights of the public. The thirty-day window is, critics believe, not enough time to make a comprehensive response to the highly technical draft environmental reports.

The proposed route variants were in Hatfield, Centurion, Salvokop, Marlboro and Sandton.

The project is the largest and costliest transport infrastructure project ever proposed by the provincial government but was never discussed in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature or submitted to any significant public debate before it was approved and put out to tender. Initial cost estimates came in at some R3.5 - 4 billion in 2000 when the project was announced by Premier Shilowa. This figure was revised upwards to R 7 billion for the purposes of the EIA process in 2003 and was finally revealed as being R20 billion (US$3.7 billion) in 2005, after the successful bidder for the project was announced and a contract came into existence.[19] National and provincial government will contribute R20 billion in equal proportions and Bombela will contribute the balance of direct project costs. Loan funding will constitute a large part of these amounts but the financing costs involved have not been stated. The sunk costs for the project will be more than R20 billion. In March 2008, Jeremy Cronin, chairman of the National Assembly's transport portfolio committee and deputy secretary-general of the SACP, complained that the cost had apparently quietly crept up to R35 billion.[20] Cronin has long opposed the project and told the SA Parliament's lower house during a budget debate that his information was that the project's cost was escalating “quietly and below the radar screen”, though MPs “were told, hand on heart, here in Parliament just a few years ago, what the written-in-stone absolute upper limit was [R20 billion]". The Gautrain management agency CEO, Jack van der Merwe, has subsequently denied this, stating that the project is a fixed-price, fixed-scope and fixed-period contract, and that the price will only increase if the consumer price index increased above the South African Reserve Bank's prediction, if the Gauteng Province were in breach of contract, or if the project's scope were to change.[21]