/ 9 July 2008

Gautrain operations to resume in a week

All Gautrain operations are expected to resume in a week at the collapsed section of Oxford Road, Gauteng minister for transport Ignatius Jacobs said on Wednesday.

”We expect everything [to be] back to normal within a week.

”This setback will not have an impact on the Gautrain completion date,” Jacobs told the media in Johannesburg.

On Tuesday, a section of Oxford Road between Eighth Avenue and North Road collapsed.

The collapse created a 10m-wide hole in the road.

Mbombela director of engineering Chris Andrews said unstable soil conditions above the Gautrain tunnel boring machine (christened Imbokodo) caused the collapse.

Andrews said a ”monitoring system” assisted them in identifying the problem earlier on.

”We took precautionary measures and barricaded the road on top.

”That is why there were no injuries.” — Sapa