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The Gautrain Rail Link
South Africa
Ratp Dev is part of the consortium selected within a Private Public Partnership (PPP contract) to design, build and operate a new rapid rail link between Johannesburg and Pretoria (the Gautrain project).
For 15 years, it will run and maintain the system as well as feeding bus routes and train stations.
In September 2006, South Africa's Gauteng Province authorities commissioned the Bombela consortium to build and operate the Gautrain project. The consortium includes Ratp Dev, Bouygues construction group, Bombardier of Canada, Murray & Roberts and SPG (a group of South African firms representing the interests of Black Economic Empowerment). The project is the most ambitious PPP undertaken in Southern Africa.
The link will be a vital infrastructure to ease congestion on a saturated transport corridor.
The total contract is €2.5 billion, with €1.2 billion allocated to construction. The whole system consists of an 80-km North-South rail network with 10 stations, connecting Hatfield, in the suburbs of Pretoria, to Johannesburg, in 40 minutes at a top speed of 160 km/hr (100 miles/hour). A connection will provide shuttle service to the area's international airport in less than 15 minutes. A feeding bus network will supplement the railway system, ensuring passenger distribution within a radius of 10 km around the stations. New car parks will also encourage people to use the transit system.
