Nineteen new Gautrain stations are being planned, including a link to Lanseria Airport, according to Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC Dr Ismail Vadi.

Gautrain is an 80 kilometre mass rapid transit railway system in Gauteng, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, Ekhuruleni and O. R. Tambo International Airport.

The rail system transports in excess of 60,000 passengers daily.

The Gautrain Management Agency is planning to extend the rail route by 150 kilometres over the next twenty years, including routes through Randburg, Fourways, and Soweto.

Vadi said that the Gautrain has already created 122,000 jobs between 2006 and 2011. And due to increased demand, the group plans to acquire 12 new train sets over the next 36 months

According to Vadi, for every R1 spent on the Gautrain, R1.72 has been added to the provincial economy.

Speaking to journalists at a press event on Wednesday (1 March), Vadi said that he proposed new line starts from Mamelodi – Irene – linking to the old network, and branching off from Sandton to Randburg, Cosmo City, the Cradle of Human Kind, Lanseria.

A blue network will connect Samrand, Olievenhoutbosch, Sunninghill, Fourways, and Soweto.

This expansion is expected to create 211,000 jobs, and will include a R19 billion procurement spend on black owned entities.

He said that a feasibility study supports the principle of extension and preferred routes that should be developed.

Premier David Makhura said during his State of the Province Address last week that the feasibility study on the expansion of Gautrain and its full integration into the broader modern public transport system of Gauteng has been completed.

Areas to be covered in the expansion of Gautrain include Mamelodi, Boksburg, Randburg-Lanseria, Mogale City and Syferfontein as well as Roodepoort and Jabulani.

“This expansion will primarily be done on a public-private partnership basis, in phases that will take a period of two decades (20 years) to complete,” Makhura said.

The feasibility study on the extension of the Gautrain rail network has been submitted to Provincial and National Treasuries and to major stakeholders that were consulted during the feasibility process.

“The feasibility study concludes that the extension of the Gautrain rail network will provide significant economic and transport related benefits to the province and the country at large; that it offers value for money, and appropriate risk transfer if procured as a Public-Private Partnership.

“Demand modelling was done to determine transport needs for Gauteng in 2025 and 2037. Through the modelling process it became clear that the ‘cost of doing nothing’ in the province will lead to major road congestion in 2037, at which stage cars will travel at an average of 15 kilometres an hour due to doubling of car growth,” MEC Vadi said.

The feasibility study identified the following main links and stations of the Gautrain rail network extensions:

On the link between Jabulani via Cosmo City and Samrand to Mamelodi, stations include Roodepoort, Little Falls, Fourways, Sunninghill, Olievenhoutsbosch, Irene, Tshwane East and Hazeldean.

The link between Sandton and Cosmo City has a station at Randburg.

On the link between Rhodesfield and Boksburg there will be a station at East Rand Mall and possible link-up with the OR Tambo International Airport Midfield terminal development.

A future link from Cosmo City to Lanseria Airport.

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