/ 28 July 2011

Gautrain to open Pretoria line next week

The Gautrain will start running between Johannesburg and Pretoria on August 2, the transport department said on Thursday.

The Rosebank and Hatfield Stations would open on Friday to allow passengers to pre-purchase tickets for the new phase, said Gauteng transport minister Ismail Vadi.

Trains would operate between 5.30am and 8.30pm every day, he said in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The high-speed train between Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport started operating in June 2010.

The Johannesburg to Pretoria service is part of the second phase of the Gautrain project.

Vadi said the remaining section — between Rosebank and the Johannesburg CBD — would remain closed until a problem with water seepage had been sorted out.

It was decided at a meeting between Vadi and the Bombela Concession Company (BCC) on Thursday that this water would be pumped into the Sandspruit River at a rate of six million litres a day.

Until now, only small amounts of the water have been pumped into the river.

“The water seepage was a surprise, but it should not impact our initial R25.2-billion budget,” said Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) chief executive Jack van der Merwe.

He said the province would not be held liable for the cost of the repairs.

Vadi said an attempt would be made to fix the water seepage problem by drilling holes into the tunnel floor and injecting low viscosity grout into the rock.

He could not say how long it would take for results to be seen, but was confident the section would be opened by the end of the year.

“The delayed opening will enable BCC to address the problem in the shortest possible time with the least impact on the rest of the system,” Vadi said.

“It must be stated clearly that although the water ingress in the Rosebank to Park Station section is not within the contract specifications, the entire system … is safe,” he said.

BCC chief executive Jerome Govender said the cost of the remedial work had not yet been finalised.

“We will only be able to give a figure once all the work has been done. There will be penalties, but they will be small and will be faced by BCC subcontractors,” he said. — Sapa