January 28, 2002
By Lucille Davie
THE highway between Johannesburg and Pretoria is the busiest in the southern hemisphere, carrying 300 000 cars each week day between the country's commercial heart and its administrative capital. Not surprisingly, it takes no more than one accident, or one bad rain storm, and traffic can be snarled up for two hours in either direction.
Which explains why the Gauteng province is willing to gamble R7 billion - or R87 million per kilometre - on a high speed train between two cities notorious for their lack of public transport facilities.
The 'Gautrain" is now a serious proposition, with work likely to begin in eighteen months, and completed in 2006. But the big question is whether a public accustomed to travelling by road will make the switch to rail in large enough numbers to make the 'Gautrain' viable. The planners say the project will be viable if only one fifth of Pretoria-Johannesburg commuters make the switch, giving the train 60 000 passengers a day.
A massive construction process
Some 80-kilometres of track will link Johannesburg, Pretoria and the Johannesburg International Airport. The trip from Johannesburg to Pretoria will take 35 minutes, and the trip from Sandton to the airport will take 15 minutes, travelling at 160km/h. There will be four underground stations and eight surface stations, and some 14 kilometres of underground track (in some places 80 metres down). Hundreds of houses may have to be expropriated, bridges and earthworks built.
 |
 |
Work on the rail should begin in mid-2003, with the first passengers expected to step on board in 2006.
|
A local civil engineer estimates that the track for a surface train would cost around R2.7-million per kilometre to construct along flat terrain. "This does not include bridges or stations or the very expensive signalling," he says. Locomotives for a high-speed train will need to be imported, at a cost of R25-million per engine.
"It is expected that some 650 houses will have to be expropriated but that figure is subject to change," says Barbara Jensen, public relations consultant for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link.
The underground tunnel will run from Park Station in the city centre to Marlboro (alongside Alexandra and Wynberg) in the northern suburbs. This means that stations in Rosebank, Sandton and Marlboro will be underground. A further underground stretch runs from Rhodesfield on the East Rand to the Johannesburg International Airport, where another underground station will be constructed.
The tunnel underneath the suburbs of Birdhaven, Marlboro Gardens, Glen Austin, Lyttelton and Lyttelton Manor will be 50-80 metres below the surface. "At that depth residents in these suburbs will not be aware of noise or vibration from a train beneath them," says Nanette Hattingh, environmental scientist at Bohlweki Environmental, the company appointed to do the environment impact assessment for the Gautrain. A detailed vibration assessment will be conducted, and acoustics specialists will be called in. "Trains in Europe going at 180 kilometres per hour create 'just a whooshing sound' in the stations they fly through," says Hattingh.
The train will cruise at 160 kilometres per hour and will operate 18 hours a day. The minimum frequency between Johannesburg and Pretoria will initially be six trains per hour in each direction.
Airport-bound commuters from Johannesburg's north, a long drive from JIA, may find the train a more attractive option than leaving a car in the airport's expensive parking facilities. The Sandton underground station will offer airport check-in facilities, and the price of an air ticket will include the train trip to and from Sandton.
The project will be developed as a public-private partnership where the Gauteng government will be co-responsible for funding. Companies in Germany, France, Spain, Canada and Japan - all countries with sophisticated rail networks - have shown interest. The winning company will be responsible for providing the infrastructure as well as the operation of the system.
Local engineers feel that the project's success depends on how the provincial government packages the Gautrain and underwrites it, and how passenger numbers will be guaranteed. One engineer said: "It appears that the project is definitely going to happen."
The Gauteng Province is offering investors a "ridership guarantee". This means that if commuter numbers don't reach the expected 60 000 a day, the province will pay the operator the shortfall. The province could end up paying up to R70-million a year in terms of this agreement. However, the converse is also catered for: the operator will have to pay the province if commuter numbers rise above projections.
From cars into trains
South Africans love their cars - how are they going to be persuaded to get out of their cars and into a train? Jensen says: "This is going to be one of our major challenges and will involve an extensive marketing process."
Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa, in a September address to the Gautrain Investor Conference, acknowledged that this would be a challenge: "A new attractive image for public transport is required for a realistic alternative for the road user."
The marketing process has several elements: a promise of door-to-door delivery of the commuter - buses will be supplied to take commuters to and from stations - and the guarantee of their safety and security.
One local engineer said that this will be the crux of making the Gautrain work: how well it will integrate with local transport systems to produce an efficient and convenient back-up transport system.
Furthermore, the province hopes to offer predictability: "We will supply a train every 10 minutes, and ensure that that happens." In addition, new adjuncts to existing stations will be built, at Park Station, for instance.
What do would-be passengers think of the plan? One commuter who lives in Centurion and travels to Woodmead every day said he would be willing to take the train, "so long my car is secure wherever I park it". Other commuters said that they had become accustomed to the long trip down the highway, and had learned to use the time productively, for example catching up on business calls with their no-hands cellphones or listening to taped books.
Planned routes
There are two planned routes: north-south and west-east. The north-south route starts in the Park Station precinct and goes north underground to Rosebank for six kilometres. From there the line goes five kilometres to a station within the Sandton business district. Shortly after Sandton the train appears on the surface and crosses the M1 heading towards Marlboro Station, around four kilometres from Sandton.
After Marlboro, the train heads further north, passing over the N3 and running along the western bank of the Jukskei River for 13 kilometres until it reaches Midrand. It stops at a station in the Centurion central business district, just north of Centurion Lake. This section of the track will be mainly above ground or in a "slight cut" of approximately one metre in an effort to reduce noise. Some sections of the track will be elevated on bridges to smooth out the gradients.
Pretoria Station is up next, 11 kilometres from Centurion, and it will be adjacent to the existing Pretoria Station. This section of the track will be partly on the surface and partly elevated on bridges. Here the Gautrain will link to the Blue Train and other tourist services.
The line will then run east for six kilometres, mainly within the existing rail system, to a station in Hatfield, from where it will link to the Tshwane Ring Rail system.
The west-east route will take commuters from the Sandton Station, via Marlboro, then east for 15 kilometres to a station in Rhodesfield in Kempton Park. From there it will pass underneath the R24 and head for a station built underneath the airport terminal buildings.
