Gautrain finally launches full service
Twelve years after it was announced as a project and six years since construction began the Gautrain will begin its full service between Hatfield Station in Pretoria and Park Station in the Johannesburg CBD on Thursday.
The opening of this last link was delayed from its initial start date of July last year as the section of tunnel between Rosebank and Park Stations has been dogged with technical problems and contractual disputes.
Arbitration to settle the dispute over the amount of water that is passing through the tunnel that connects Park Station and Rosebank Station will begin in September‚ in the mean time the tunnel has been deemed safe to allow for full operation of the service.
Bombela Concession Company‚ which won the 15-year concession to manage the Gautrain‚ said on Wednesday it was “delighted” that the last leg of the train’s network would now be commissioned.
“We received the final go-ahead from the Railway Safety Regulator this afternoon and we decided that we should go ahead as soon as possible‚” Kelebogile Machaka‚ a spokeswoman for Bombela said on Wednesday.
The first train was scheduled to leave Park at 5:24 am and the final train will leave from the newly opened station at 8:30 pm.
Commuters between Park and Rosebank stations‚ who have been relying on a bus to ferry them between the two stations‚ will cut their journey time from about 25 minutes to between three minutes and four minutes by using the rail link‚ she said.
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