Gautrain

File:Gautrain Logo.jpg

Gautrain logo

Gautrain is an 80-kilometre Mass Rapid Transit railway system in Gauteng Province, South Africa that will ultimately link Johannesburg, Pretoria (Tshwane metropolitan area), and OR Tambo International Airport. It is hoped that this railway will relieve the over-used M1 and N1 highways, as well as offer commuters a viable alternative to road transport, as Johannesburg has a limited public transport infrastructure.

Location

Ten suburbs have been identified as potential station locations:

• Johannesburg Park Station
• Rosebank
• Sandton
• Marlboro
• Midrand
• Centurion
• Pretoria
• Hatfield
• Rhodesfield
• O.R. Tambo International Airport

Gauteng's Gautrain

The train is expected to cut the number of cars on the N1 Ben Schoeman highway by 20% and cost about R40 a ticket, with 135,000 passenger trips a day by 2010. Construction was scheduled to commence in June 2006, with project completion scheduled for 2010, which coincides with South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The Gauteng Department of Transport obtained environmental authorisation and conducted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for this purpose. The necessary authorisation was granted on 25 April 2004. On 7 Dec 2005 the cabinet of the South African government gave the go-ahead for the project, expected to cost more than 24 billion Rand. Government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said, "There was a firm commitment that the time frame of this project will not be delayed." The Gauteng Government has now admitted that parts of the project will definitely not be completed in time for the FIFA World Cup in 2010.

South Africa's budget announced 15 February 2006 allocated R14bn for Gautrain. On 16 February 2006, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said that the Gautrain route had been finalised and could now be cleared for construction to begin.

Initial works for the Gautrain commenced on Tuesday, 22 May 2006.

Technology

While existing railways in South Africa use the narrower-than-standard Cape gauge of 1067mm (3 ft 6 in), Gautrain will be built to standard gauge (1435 mm or 4 ft 8½ in). According to Gautrain , standard gauge "is safer and more comfortable for speeds of 130 km/h and higher, and will allow for more cost-effective procurement of rolling stock". Trains are expected to travel at up to 180 km/h.

Bombardier Transportation's Electrostar, a model of train common in south-east England, has been selected for the system. The trains will be assembled by UCW Partnership in South Africa from components made in Britain.

Construction

File:Gautrain Underground.jpg

An artist's impression of the Gautrain traveling in the underground tunnels.

Construction of the rail system will be undertaken by Bombela Consortium who have been awarded the contract. Bombela Consortium is a partnership between Bombardier Transportation, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Murray & Roberts, the Loliwe companies and RATP Développement. It is 50 percent owned by its international partners and 50 percent by Murray & Roberts and the Strategic Partners Group, the consortium's black economic empowerment component.

M&R chief executive Brian Bruce said major infrastructure delivery projects were being delayed by the "inordinate amount of time" spent on environmental and process issues before the government was prepared to sign a contract. Construction revenue declined by 4% to R2,12-billion and operating profit by 72% to R35-million. Bruce said if construction on the Gautrain began without further delay, there was "a chance" of delivering the first phase, the link between OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton, in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The link between Johannesburg and Pretoria would be completed 54 months after the project kicked off, he said.

Criticism

Much of the criticism around Gautrain is the concern that money is being spent on the rich at the expense of the poor. However, the train was never meant to be an alternative to mass public transport - it was to reduce pressure of Johannesburg's overloaded highway system. Figures released by the Gauteng provincial government in 2003 indicate that the project will do little to relieve traffic on the over-used Ben Schoeman Highway (one of the major motivations for the project), as traffic volumes will be higher when the Gautrain is completed and operating at full capacity in 2010. Leftist political groupings like the SACP and labour movements like COSATU have branded the Gautrain as a train for the rich and called on government not to proceed with the project. A national parliamentary oversight body (the Transport Portfolio Committee) held public hearings in November 2005 and subsequently advised Cabinet to scrap or postpone the project. Evidence is emerging that Government support for the project primarily stems from its efforts to raise infrastructural spending to sustain economic growth and that a dearth of appropriate projects forced it to support this flawed project.

Ridership

Critics have questioned the ridership estimates on which the project is based. International analysis indicate that bureaucrats almost always overestimate ridership to gain political approval for projects. Numerous international examples exist where similar projects operate at massive loss or were aborted.

In addition the Gauteng provincial government guarantees ridership to the concessionaire who must build and operate the train. If predicted ridership levels do not materialise, taxpayers will by agreement pay an unspecified annual compensation to the concessionaire.

Alternative transportation projects

Critics point out that the project will use the majority of available national and provincial transport funds in a context where massive amounts are needed to deal with widespread traffic congestion and commuter transport problems nationally and in the province. In addition, the existing railway system in the province (currently under national, not provincial, jurisdiction) that serves the majority of the population, is severely underfunded and large scale and violent public unrest, caused by inadequate and old public rail transport systems, has manifested in the province. Critics pointed out that alternative options like rapid bus transit systems can achieve similar levels of service at a fraction of the costs. These matters were never submitted to a public debate as the project was designed and launched within the confines of the Gauteng Government bureaucracy.

Environmental issues

The environmental benefits of the project are also disputed and the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the project has revealed that Gautrain will at best be environmentally neutral. South Africa uses dirty coal-based electricity generation and the electricity required for Gautrain will come from outside the Gauteng region. The pollution associated with the generation of this electricity will therefore effectively be exported to the Mpumalanga region, an area already under severe strain from air pollution.

In November 2005 communities in Johannesburg (Dunkeld community) decided to contest the alignment in their suburb. Legal action launched by the Muckleneuk/Lukasrand Property Owners and Residents Association (MLPORA) in 2004 (Case No. 28192/04), together with an urgent application launched by MLPORA in 2006, goes before the High Court of South Africa on 1 August 2006. MLPORA inter alia opposes the original environmental authorisation granted and the legality of the procedures being followed to approve variant alignments proposed by Bombela. In Pretoria the Gautrain skirts the inner city and cuts through the city's second oldest suburb (Muckleneuk) and high density residential areas and the middle of the city's educational precinct on its way to Hatfield. The alignment as proposed will result in the prevention of the future development of the cities education precinct an urban district with the potential to become a space of national significance. Legal action has also been brought by AECI in January 2006 which has not yet gone before court. Approximately 10% of the route traverses AECI owned land. A dispute with the Centurion Association for a Reasonable Environment (WeCARE) has been settled in favour of WeCARE in March 2006. Further legal challenges are expected.

Critics also question the stated growth and job creation benefits that the project will bring. The EIA for the project determined that it is a poorly performing public sector investment project. In addition the project sponsors have been completely silent on the social benefits that could be gained from alternative public sector investment programmes.

On 29 January 2006 the draft environmental reports on possible variant routes for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link were released for public comment, without prior warning, and the public were given thirty days to comment on them. The variant alignment proposals are primarily cost-cutting measures proposed by the concessionaire for the project, Bombela. Acceptance of these proposals will lower overall project costs and raise their profits. The released draft EIA reports were compiled by experts without public participation and are being fast tracked through the system by the Gauteng Government. Environmental management plans (EMPs) have already been compiled for these route variants. In law EMPs are meant to mitigate environmental impacts identified in consultation with affected parties. The decision to approve the released EIAs and EMPs vests with the sphere of government that is bringing the project application, namely the Gauteng Government. The process followed raises serious questions regarding the audi alteram principle and the protection of the environmental rights of the public. The thirty-day window is, critics believe, not enough time to make a comprehensive response to the highly technical draft environmental reports.

Felehetsa Environmental is the independent environmental consultant appointed to carry out the environmental investigations and has already indicated in their draft EIA reports that it intends to give the new surface level alignments a clean environmental bill of health. This effectively means that one set of EIA consultants found that the train would have the least environmental impact if tunnelled and another set of consultants then found that the train would have even less environmental impact if raised to the surface in essentially the same area. The apparent contradictions between the two assessments, critics believe, raise serious questions about the integrity of the EIA process in South Africa. The clear impression exists that the Gauteng Government would approve anything that it requires to launch the project, irrespective of the public participation, environmental and due process requirements, and that it regards the EIA process as an irritating formality.

The proposed route variants are in Hatfield, Centurion, Salvokop, Marlboro and Sandton.

The draft reports on the proposed route variants are available online [1], and can be viewed at eleven public venues - the Johannesburg Public Reference Library, the Gautrain Project Office in Johannesburg, the Sandown Public Library, Linbro Park Public Library, the Lyttleton Public Library, the Centurion Town Council, City Of Tshwane, Sammy Marks Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and at the offices of Felehetsa Environmental in Johannesburg.

Cost

The project is the largest and costliest transport infrastructure project ever proposed by the provincial government but was surprisingly never discussed in the Provincial Legislature or submitted to any significant public debate before it was approved and put out on tender. Initial cost estimates for the project came in at some R3.5 - 4 billion in 2000 when the project was announced by Premier Shilowa. This figure was revised upwards to R 7 billion for the purposes of the EIA process in 2003 and was finally revealed as being R20 billion (3.7 billion dollars) in 2005, after the successful bidder for the project was announced and a contract came into existence. National and provincial government will contribute 20 billion rands in equal proportions) and a private sector concessionaire (Bombela) will contribute the balance of direct project costs. Loan funding will constitute a large part of these amounts but the financing costs involved have not been stated. The sunk costs for the project will be more than 20 billion rands.

Cost Time Line

• 2002 R3.5 - 4 billion initial cost estimate
• 2003 R7 billion revised cost estimates
• 2005 R20 billion revised cost estimate
• 2006 R22.5 billion or more

See also

• List of rapid transit systems

External links

• Gautrain Corporate Site
• Gautrain Environmental Impact Assessment
• Gautrain Variant EIA investigations 2005/6