Posted on Jun 14, 2010 in Media Releases
On it’s first weekend of operations after opening the system last Tuesday, the Gautrain was overwhelmed by the public take-up of it’s services. A tsunami of about 40,000 passengers (several times the predicted volumes) was carried on Saturday and Sunday as many Gautengers used it for a fun family outing. Along with airport travelers and the added demand of World Cup passengers, this inevitably resulted in long queues at stations and long waits for trains.
To ease the congestion, Bombela deployed additional security and operational staff and also started running trains at 8 minute intervals rather than the 30 minute intervals initially planned for. As these additional services were introduced, the signaling system automatically slowed all trains to a 30km/h speed until the headways between trains had evened out. This process took about 30 minutes during which time some passengers experienced abnormally long waits for trains to arrive or depart. Immediately thereafter all trains again ran at 160km/h at the new 8 minute intervals.
Towards late afternoon the passenger volumes began to ease and normal services will resume on Monday morning.
Issued by the Bombela Concession Company (Pty) Ltd
For enquiries contact:
Kelebogile Machaka
Mobile: 083 725 6547
Email: kelebogile.machaka@bombela.com
Errol Braithwaite
Mobile: 083 229 2243
Email: errol.braithwaite@bombela.com
Construction Update
- CONSTRUCTION UPDATE – JUNE AND JULY August 26, 2011A) CONSTRUCTION COMPLETION AND THE START OF PHASE 2 OPERATIONS On 02 August 2011 the second phase of the Gautrain System – the route linking Rosebank Station in Johannesburg to Hatfield Station in Tshwane – was opened for commercial service. This follows the initial launch of Gautrain services on 08 June 2010, just three days […]
