Gautrain for Northside

A Gautrain will be at a station on the Northside in the not-too-distant future.

Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport, Dr. Ismail Vadi, announced in a recent press statement (released by Gautrain) that a number of short and medium term interventions in the form of system enhancements will be implemented in the foreseeable future.

These plans have been structured to alleviate the current pressure on the Gautrain system, and also to address the concerns of passengers.

These plans include a rapid rail link from Naledi in Soweto to Mamelodi via either the proposed Gautrain Samrand Station or the existing Gautrain Midrand Station. This extension will include stations at Blue Hills, Sunninghill, Fourways, Cosmo City and Ruimsig.

A link from the existing Gautrain Sandton Station to Randburg and Honeydew is also on the cards.

Errol Braithwaite from Bombela Concession Company, the private sector company which has partnered with the Gauteng provincial government to design, build, operate, maintain and partially finance the Gautrain project, shedded some light on these new developments.

Braithwaite explained that the Gauteng Transport Infrastructure Act (GTIA) regulates the processes to be followed to acquire land and servitude rights for new transport infrastructure.

First, a route needs to be determined. Several different route alternatives connecting the proposed station nodes are studied. Estimating land impacts, technical feasibility, demand modelling and a rough estimate of costs take place at this stage of the planning process.

The team then proposes a preliminary design where the preferred route is more closely studied and impacts are refined.

The required land is then procured.

“Environmental impact assessments are also conducted, in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA),” he continued.

“These environmental impact assessments need to be approved by the environmental authorities in order to finalise the final rail reserve before expropriation can commence.”

Each of the above phases allows for the receipt of public comments which must be taken into account before designs are finalised.

Only once all of these phases, as well as the economic viability of the proposed system, are approved, and the relevant authority has also gone through a procurement process to appoint competent contractors and suppliers, can construction actually begin.

“It can therefore be appreciated that the procurement of big infrastructure projects is a long and arduous process. From the beginning of Route Determination (which is only now beginning for future Gautrain extensions), it can quite easily take five years before construction work actually begins. Thereafter it may take another three or four years before trains are able to operate commercially.”

Details: Gautrain www.gautrain.co.za