EROSION PROTECTION AND ECOLOGICAL REHABILITATION

The first summer rains were just in time for a mix of indigenous and commercially available grass species that Gautrain ecologists planted to combat soil erosion on slopes and embankments.

The grass cover is designed to contain a ‘mother crop’ that germinates quickly and ensures fast erosion protection and the stabilisation of embankments. The ‘mother crop’ is then slowly replaced by more sustainable perennial species that ensures long-term stabilisation on all areas that requires protection.

Natural colonisation forms part of this process and ensures a low maintenance and hardened vegetation cover that will ultimately assist in the protection of the rail slopes.

Apart from combating erosion, the grassing of slopes also serves an aesthetic purpose.
When construction is completed, re-vegetation will be used to re-establish the ecology of areas where clearing and compaction occurred through the re-introduction of the natural occurring grass species.

Rehabilitation further includes the final landscaping of all ‘modified’ areas. An example is the Mushroom Farm construction site in Sandton. The community park will be fully reinstated once construction operations are complete around middle 2009.

All these measures are in line with the requirements of the Draft Final Environmental Management Plan that guides the construction of Gautrain. These factors contribute to making Gautrain one of the most significant environmentally sustainable rapid rail engineering projects in the world today.