A group of about 150 special guests and media became the first
non-Gautrain officials to board the high speed Gautrain on Tuesday, in
a special event marking the homecoming of the train’s first completed
rail-car.
The event, which was billed ‘iFikile Ekhaya’ (‘It Has Come Home’), was
attended by members of the Gautrain political committee headed by
Premier Paul Mashatile as well as officials from Bombardier
Transportation and the Bombela Concession Company.
Guests were treated to a test drive of the train, up and down the three kilometre test track at the Midrand maintenance depot. The state-of-the-art train with its trademark blue, white and gold design gave guests a first hand experience of the comfort of world-class public transport.
The train travelled smoothly and quietly up and down the track, reaching speeds of 100km/h.
The Gautrain is an Electrostar train, designed and manufactured at Bombardier’s Derby, UK facility. While the model is commonly used in the UK, the Gautrain is currently the fastest and most powerful Electrostar in production, with a maximum operational speed of 160km/h, 40km/h more than the average Electrostar.
A special fleet of these trains will carry passengers from Sandton to OR Tambo International Airport in just 12 minutes.
Addressing guests, Gautrain Project Manager Jack van der Merwe praised Bombardier for delivering an ‘African Beauty.’ “I know that when people see the trains, it will change the image of public transport in South Africa,” he said.
Premier Mashatile added his praises to all those involved in the public private partnership project saying, “Gautrain is the birth of a new legacy in public transport. And what we see here today is the realisation of this legacy.”
Assembly of Gautrain’s first rail-car started at Bombardier’s Derby assembly plant in November 2007. Less than a year later, the first completed four-car train set was handed over to Gautrain’s political committee at the plant in July 2008. Five months later, the first shipment of two completed rail cars arrived at Durban harbour on 1 December 2008 before being transported to the Gautrain depot.
The complete Gautrain rail fleet will be made up of 96 Electrostar rail cars that will be operated initially in four-car train sets. Fifteen of the rail cars, including the ten customised cars destined for the airport service, are being manufactured and completed at Bombardier Transportation’s manufacturing facility in Derby and will be shipped to South Africa over the next few months.
The body shells and some of the major components for the remaining 81 rail cars are simultaneously being ‘flat packed’ into crates and shipped to South Africa for local assembly and completion by the Union Carriage and Wagon Partnership, at a facility in Nigel, east of Johannesburg. The first locally assembled four-car train set is expected to be completed in June 2009.
Upon delivery to the Gautrain depot each train-set will be subjected to a long and rigorous testing and commissioning process. In total each train-set will complete approximately 3000km on the test-track before being certified for operations.
Commenting on the recent Metrorail train accidents which took place in Gauteng, CEO of Bombela Concession Company, Jerome Govender, said that the testing and commissioning of the trains was a key phase in determing the ultimate safety of the Gautrain and one which would not be rushed. “Ensuring the safety of passengers is absolutely critical for us,” he said.
