South Africa Eyes Chinese Group for 1st Bullet Train
The largest construction company in China, China Railway Group, announced it is in preliminary talks with the South African government to build the country’s first high-speed railway.
The landmark project aims to link the major business hub of Johannesburg and the eastern city of Durban, South Africa’s busiest harbor.
China Railway has signed an agreement with Standard Bank Group, one of Africa’s biggest financial aids and 20 percent owned by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, to finance the project, but talks are still being settled and no money is yet on the table.
“Discussions are at an early stage and no financing is in place,” Li Changjin, Chairman of China Railway Group said.
Last April, the South African government was conducted a study on the feasibility of high-speed trains to to traverse the 352-mile distance between Johannesburg and Durban, which takes around five to seven hours by regular rail. Through the high-speed link, travelers could travel across the two cities in only three hours.
Previous reports stated that Morocco is the only country in Africa with a definite bullet transport in the pipeline. Set to launch by 2015, Morocco’s high-speed rail will link Casablanca to the port of Tangier City which is 350km away.
Many critics in South Africa believe the freight would be too expensive and not many travelers are interested to try the high-speed rail. Instead, they propose allocating budget for the improvement of their national railway transport system.
Last June, the first phase of the Gautrain railway project, Africa’s first rapid rail link between Johannesburg’s airport and Pretoria, opened in time for the World Cup. After meeting great success in its initial trials, the Gautrain will be completed by 2011.
Short URL: http://www.timesharepages.com/?p=4419
WOW… A Gautrain to Durban, LOL!
Jozi to Durban in only 3 hours, impressive
Its not that south africa doesn’t have a bullet train,well maybe u r rite since its called gautrain,if indeed there is a difference between gautrain and bullet train wich will be operatinal in 2015 then they will be tthe first african to have such
Just sad that about 26 years ago south africa had a high speed rail link from jhb to tswane called the METRO BLITZ that could do the same speed as the current Gautrain on the existing narrow gauge 1067mm as opposed to the international gauge the new gautrain uses so I don’t know what the fuss is all about regarding the new Gautrain!!! Now a high speed rail link to Dbn, with all the strikes , Yeah right!!!
i agree with craig but we must also leave a gap for hope. it’s changing times for us here and just maybe there is hope craig. this is no offense to you craig.
it would be nice to have a high speed commutor service from durbs to jhb. as for goods trains using the same lines, the world would not compare to us. we would be to fast for them, as it stands we transport stuff at speeds the world won’t try, but us.