Gautrain construction has been under way for 33 months now, since starting at the end of September 2006.

The first phase to be completed within 45 months (May 2010) includes the network between the O.R. Tambo International Airport and Sandton and includes the stations at O.R. Tambo, Rhodesfield, Marlboro and Sandton, together with the Depot and Operations Control Centre located near Allandale Road in Midrand.

The second phase, being constructed concurrently, will be completed in 54 months (March 2011). This phase includes the remainder of the rail network and stations linking Sandton to Park Station in Johannesburg and the route from Midrand to Hatfield.

Gautrain released updates on just how far the project had progressed by the end of May 2009:

Construction of the concourse slab is approaching completion. Work continues on the station roof slab and the platforms at rail level. Casting of the columns that will support the parkade structure above the station is in progress.

Tunnelling activities at Park Station continued, with the single tunnel excavation towards Rosebank Station reaching approximately 1,304 metres by the end of May 2009.

Excavation at Shaft E1, which has a final depth of 80 metres, has reached just over 42 metres.

The single-track rail tunnel between Park Station and Sandton Station will feature seven emergency access shafts. These shafts will provide emergency services personnel access to the tunnels below. At the bottom of certain of these shafts there will be safe havens where passengers can gather in case of an emergency.

At Shaft E2, where excavation of the 236 metre adit (horizontal tunnel) is complete, tunnelling from the end of this connecting passage has advanced along the main tunnel route in both southerly and northerly directions. The one tunnel heads south towards Park Station, while the other tunnel heads north towards Rosebank Station. Towards Park Station, excavation has advanced 312 metres. Towards the north, excavation of this 144 metre long tunnel section linking it to the TBM tunnel, has been completed.

At Shaft E3, civil works within the shaft are ongoing. Foundations for the head house structure have commenced. Being a shallow shaft with direct access to the surface, there is no safe haven necessary at the bottom of this shaft.

At Shaft E4, where final shaft lining is complete, excavation of the two connecting adits is also complete. Construction of head house columns has commenced. Like E3, being a shallow shaft with direct access to the surface, there is no safe haven necessary at the bottom of this shaft.

Casting of the concourse and roof slabs is well advanced. At rail level, platform construction is ongoing. Brickwork and plastering to the ticket offices and technical rooms at the concourse level is in progress.

Inside the tunnel bored by the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), casting of the invert slab concrete works, on which the railway lines will be installed, has commenced.

Construction of the northern cut and cover tunnel section linking the station box to the start of the drill and blast tunnel is ongoing. At the southern end of the station, works on the cut & cover tunnel adjoining the TBM tunnel have commenced.

At the corner of Oxford Road and Baker Street, where the TBM site establishment area has been cleared, earthworks and preparatory works for the parkade structure are underway.

Tunnelling towards Sandton Station - the only section of tunnel being excavated from this shaft - has progressed to 2 047 metres.

This shaft has been constructed using a "raise boring" methodology, which entails drilling a pilot hole downwards and then boring a large diameter shaft from the bottom up towards the surface. Raise boring and excavation of this 73 metre deep shaft is complete and shaft lining is about to start.

Shaft E7 is located on the western side of Rivonia Road, opposite ’The Inandas’ townhouse complex. Excavation of this shaft to its final depth of 69 metres has been completed and excavation of the connecting adit from the bottom of this shaft to the main rail tunnel is in progress, advancing to 90 metres by month end.

Underground station construction works are ongoing in the cavern section between the south and north shafts, as well as within the shafts themselves. These works include the base slabs for the tracks, construction of the various platforms and the various technical rooms and access ways that are located within the shafts.

Construction of Sandton Station’s three level underground parkade is progressing apace, with the multiple parking decks clearly visible from the surrounding buildings. Piling, foundations, column construction and casting of the suspended slabs of the parkade structure are ongoing.

The tunnel being excavated from the southern end of the Station towards E7 and Rosebank has progressed to 1 135 metres, just past the point where the Shaft E7 adit joins the main tunnel. Excavation of this section of the tunnel is, therefore, complete.

Mushroom Farm Park is a temporary shaft, which was used to provide access for tunnel construction in a northern and southern direction simultaneously. The community park will be fully reinstated once construction operations are complete during the second half of 2009.

Tunnel excavations from Mushroom Farm Park are complete. Continuous lengths of tunnel now extend from the south of Sandton Station, through Mushroom Farm Park and all the way to the portal at Marlboro. Precast walkway installation and construction of civil works within the shaft itself are ongoing. Invert slabs and the partition wall in the double track tunnel towards Marlboro are complete.

Tracklaying within the first 2.5 km of twin-track tunnel from the portal towards Sandton has commenced.

Unlike the above ground sections of the route where the rail tracks are supported on concrete sleepers and a conventional ballast system, the rail track construction within the tunnels utilises a ’state of the art’ trackform system specially developed for this type of application. This comprises pre-cast concrete blocks attached to the underside of the rails, each of which are surrounded by a resilient ’boot’, which is cast into the concrete track slab.

The temporary flash butt welding facility established adjacent to the portal is fully operational. This is where rails are welded into 216 metre long lengths prior to installation of track within the tunnel.

The civil works within the tunnel between Marlboro Portal and Mushroom Farm Park are substantially complete.

The portal at Marlboro is the point where the tunnel section ’daylights’. It separates the underground and surface sections of the route.

Viaducts 1A and 11 crossing the Jukskei River and east Bank Drive are both complete.

Between Marlboro Portal and this pair of viaducts, the various culverts, retaining walls, the cross-over structure, final layer earthworks and the three bridges over Zinnia Road are all approaching completion. Tracklaying operations in this area will commence shortly.

At Marlboro Station, the station and parkade concrete structures are complete and the platforms are well advanced. Erection of structural steelwork for the main concourse, platform links and the platform roofs is approaching completion and roof cladding is in progress. Station building wet trades are substantially complete. Mechanical and electrical (M&E) installations, which include the escalators and lifts, are ongoing.

Construction of a series of underpasses, where the two pairs of railway tunnels cross below the N3 highway alongside the Marlboro Road Bridge just to the north of Marlboro Station, has been completed. Backfilling of the last of these structures has started. Gautrain construction works at the N3 crossing should be completed during July 2009.

Viaduct 2 and the two adjacent bridges over the future Frankenwald and Maxwell Roads are complete, with railway tracks in place across all three of these structures. Erection of noise barriers along this section of the alignment is also complete.

Construction of the Train Depot facilities, including the train system administration buildings and operations control centre, is complete. This centre will be the heartbeat of Gautrain from where signalling, telecommunications, automatic fare collection, traction power and overhead distribution CCTV cameras and maintenance will be managed using world-class, high technology systems.

The train maintenance workshops and the other Depot facilities, including the washing bay for cleaning of the trains and a sand-filling facility, are also complete and operational. The trains are equipped with a sand dispensing mechanism, which deposits a special type of sand onto the rails to improve traction between the wheels and the rail when necessary.

At the Train Depot, Gautrain’s 24 train sets will be maintained, serviced cleaned, and securely stabled overnight. The adjacent Bus Depot will perform a similar function for Gautrain’s dedicated fleet of 125 luxury buses.

At the adjacent Bus Maintenance Depot, where the feeder and distribution service bus service administration building has already been constructed, preparations for the construction of the remaining facilities are in progress. Part of the temporary precast yard which currently occupies this area has been dismantled and earthworks have commenced.

On the East-West airport line, tracklaying from behind Linbro Park towards OR Tambo International Airport commenced at the end of April and is progressing steadily eastwards. About 3 km of twin-track railway lines had been installed on this section of the route by the end of May 2009.

On the North-South line, the twin-track railway lines from just south of Dale Road in Midrand, past the Depot, to behind Linbro Park are complete and operational. This section of the route - which is approximately 7 km long - is used as the ’test track’, where all trains will be dynamically tested.

All trackwork and the stabling sidings within the Depot area are complete, energized and operational.

Gautrain’s rolling stock of 96 rail cars is based on the renowned Bombardier Electrostar series, which is used extensively in the United Kingdom.

The first 15 rail cars were manufactured and fully assembled at Bombardier Transportation’s facility in Derby in the U.K. The manufacture of body shells and components for the remainder of the fleet is ongoing. All 15 of these Derby-built rail cars have been delivered to the Depot, where dynamic testing has commenced.

The body shells and major components for the remaining 81 rail cars are being ’flat packed’ into crates and shipped to South Africa for assembly in Nigel. Delivery to the Depot of rail cars assembled at Union Carriage and Wagon Partnership in Nigel, which commenced during April 2009, is ongoing.

The Precast Yard is equipped to manufacture a variety of precast concrete elements. These include viaduct segments, bridge beams and parapets, tunnel walkway sections and noise barriers. From here, precast elements are transported to the various construction sites as needed. Until the start of decommissioning of parts of this facility at the end of May this year, this has been the largest precasting facility in Africa.

Production of precast components for the various Gautrain structures is well advanced. The last of approximately 3 200 viaduct segments was cast at the end of May 2009. This section of the production line is being dismantled to allow construction of the Bus Depot, which will be located on the area currently occupied by the precast yard, to commence. Production of the remaining precast components, including M-beams for bridges, will be completed by the end of September this year.

North of the Depot, the K60 bridge and Viaduct 3 are both complete. Finishing works in this area, such as final trimming of slopes, hydro seeding and installation of access stairways on embankments are in progress.

At Midrand Station, platform construction and station building works are in progress. Deck and platform construction on the adjacent Grand Central bridge, together with bulk earthworks for the parking areas, are ongoing.

From the Midrand area northwards to the Technopark area at Centurion, relocation of utilities and bulk earthworks are well advanced. Bridge construction and fencing activities continued and final layer works and catenary mast bases are in progress along sections of the route.

Parapet erection and waterproofing is in progress.

The Centurion Station platforms are elevated and are located on Viaduct 5, which runs immediately adjacent and parallel to West Street. The concourse buildings and parking area are at ground level. The viaduct piers in this area have been completed. The viaduct deck spans on which the platforms will be constructed will be erected shortly.

Construction of foundation shafts and piers continued at John Vorster Viaduct and at Jean Avenue Viaduct. Construction of the in-situ balanced cantilever deck sections on top of the piers at each of these viaducts is ongoing. The graceful arched forms of these exceptionally long deck spans are now clearly identifiable, with the span over Jean Avenue almost complete.

Several temporary steel pedestrian bridges have been erected over the N14 highway at the Jean Avenue interchange and across the N1 at John Vorster interchange to provide construction workers safe access across these busy highways.

Viaduct 5 carries the elevated alignment through Centurion and supports the elevated Centurion Station platforms located approximately midway along its length. This viaduct stretches from the John Vorster Interchange crossing the N1 in the south and then continues through Centurion to the Jean Avenue Interchange, crossing the Ben Schoeman highway in the north. Along this section, preloading, grouting and piling of viaduct pier foundations were ongoing, and pile cap and pier construction continued.

Using a launching girder, erection of precast viaduct deck segments opposite the Centurion Rugby Club, continued westwards. Twelve spans were in place by the end of May. A second launching girder has also commenced with segment erection progressing in the opposite direction. When completed, this section of the viaduct will be linked to the balanced cantilever viaduct crossing John Vorster interchange. One span of segments had been placed on this section by month end.

At Viaduct 6, large diameter foundation piling is almost complete at the pier positions. Dynamic compaction below the southern approach fills has been completed. Construction of the underpass structures, where the Eeufees off-ramp will pass below the Gautrain railway lines, has started.

Construction of this viaduct is progressing well. The deck to the section that will carry the railway lines across Nelson Mandela Boulevard is clearly visible. The M Beams for the first eight spans of Viaduct 7 have been placed in position. Piling and foundation construction for the remaining sections of this ’Y-shaped’ structure that will carry the Gautrain tracks over the existing railway lines is ongoing.

Near Salvokop at the approach to Tshwane, a cut & cover structure will cross below the Ben Schoeman highway. The first phase of construction is complete. The temporary northbound deviation was opened to traffic in mid-January and excavation of the second phase of this structure below the permanent northbound carriageway has been completed. Construction of the concrete works for the second phase cut and cover structure is in progress.

At Pretoria Station, structural concrete works and brickwork at the concourse and associated technical and operational facilities are ongoing. Construction of the platform is well advanced and erection of platform canopy steelwork is substantially complete.

Column construction and casting of suspended slabs at the parkade structure are ongoing.

Lateral support works adjacent to the platforms is substantially complete. Excavation of the southern embankment ahead of platform construction is in progress.

Between Pretoria Station and Hatfield Station, a number of bridges crossing the existing railway line require to be either widened or lengthened to accommodate the adjacent Gautrain tracks. Whilst some of these bridges have already been completed and reopened to traffic, works on a number of the remaining structures is ongoing.

Tracklaying from behind Linbro Park towards OR Tambo International Airport commenced at the end of April 2009 and is progressing eastwards on an incremental basis. Approximately 3 km of twin-track railway lines had been installed by the end of May 2009.

Construction works are in progress along this entire section and are well advanced. Work is nearing completion at all of the eleven bridges along the Airport Link and construction of the three viaducts on this section of the route is substantially complete.

Viaduct 13 is complete. Tracklaying over this structure will commence shortly.

Viaduct 14 is substantially complete and completion of the western approach fill is in imminent. Tracklaying over this structure will commence within the next few weeks.

Structural works continued to the supports for the escalators and the access and escape stairs linking the concourse to the elevated platforms. Erection of the platform roof structure is complete, including cladding. At ground level, concourse building works are well advanced and the parking area earthworks are in progress.

The Rhodesfield Station platforms are elevated and are located approximately one third of the way along Viaduct 15, directly above the existing Metrorail (now PRASA) railway lines running between Isando and Kempton Park. The station entrance, concourse and parking area will be positioned at ground level on the eastern side of the existing railway lines.

PRASA has recently commenced construction of a new station on its system, immediately adjacent to the Gautrain station. This will provide commuters with a convenient transfer link between the Gautrain and PRASA systems.

Finishing works within the concourse are well advanced and preparations for the installation of technical equipment, such as ticket vending machines and fare gates, has commenced.

Externally, erection of the elevated platform structures located on the adjacent Viaduct 15, is substantially complete.

All spans on Viaduct 15 are erected and parapet installation is also complete. The 1.5 km long Viaduct 15 is by far the longest viaduct on the east-west section of the route. This viaduct supports both the Rhodesfield and ORTIA Station platforms and will carry the double track railway line over the R21/R24 road network to the elevated OR Tambo International Airport Station. The ORTIA Station concourse is directly linked to the departures level of the adjacent new Central Terminal Building, one level below.

Communities are reminded that regular Community Liaison Forums are held in affected areas. These afford residents the opportunity to voice their concerns and have their questions answered by Gautrain officials who are present at these meetings.

Toll-free call centre: 0800-GAUTRAIN (0800-42887246). The call centre is operational weekdays between 7am and 7pm with an answering system after-hours.