Gautrain has finally begun

Construction of the Gautrain has truly begun - a large, 50m-wide indentation in Marlboro marks the first signs of where the train will actually run.

Filled with busy front-end loaders, large trucks and other construction vehicles, the huge 250m-long gouge in the landscape on the border of Alexandra township, marks the spot where the underground tunnel that runs from Park Station, will appear above ground. It is here, too, that the route splits - with one line going to Tshwane and the other going to OR Tambo Airport.

French trade minister Christine Lagarde visited the site on Tuesday, 14 November, and project leader Jack van der Merwe and Bombela project director Charles-Etienne Perrier explained the basics of the construction operation to her.

Lagarde is in the country for a week, on a French-South African trade co-operation visit. Several of the companies in the Bombela consortium, the private-public partnership consigned to build the Gautrain, are French.

Perrier said that there had been an active drive to get South African engineers who had emigrated, to return to the country. "Thirty engineers are coming back from the United Kingdom and the Middle East, while another 30 are returning from Dubai and Taiwan, bringing the experience they have gained there back home."

He said that the project had employed some 200 construction engineers and 300 design engineers, 90 percent of whom were South African.

Van der Merwe said that the project had been divided into 10 design packages, with 10 teams working on each of the 10 stations.

He indicated that the efforts to lure engineers back to South Africa were going well, thanks to the challenge of the Gautrain. "The biggest incentive is the challenge of learning, not the money."

Meanwhile, work around the future Rosebank and Sandton stations continues, with road widening, which involves the removal of trees and islands, thereby creating one-way streets. Already Joburgers are feeling the disruptions they will have to live with for the next four years.

Van der Merwe said that by the beginning of December Oxford Road going northbound would be closed, with diversions around Bolton Road and Sturdee and Jellicoe avenues.

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