The request for proposals (RFP) for preliminary design of four possible expansion routes to the 80-km Gautrain system closed on Friday. The RFP includes technical, legal and financial aspects, and should provide the GMA with guidance on the feasibility of the project, Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) CEO Jack van der Merwe explained.
The routes include a link from Gautrain Park Station, underneath the city, to Westgate; a link from Gautrain Rhodesfield Station to Boksburg; a link from Gautrain Sandton Station to Randburg and Honeydew, and a link from Naledi, in Soweto, to Mamelodi, via either the proposed Gautrain Samrand Station, or the existing Gautrain Midrand Station.
“We would only really know what the project entails three, four years from now, at which point we will start looking at methods of funding the expansions,” says Van der Merwe.
The expansion forms part of the Gauteng government’s new Integrated Transport Master Plan, and is not being implemented as a freestanding project, emphasises Van der Merwe.
The Gautrain system currently carries 62 500 train passengers and between 22 000 and 24 000 bus passengers a day.
The start of e-tolling on Gauteng’s highways in December has added around 13 000 train passengers a day..
By: Irma Venter
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