Train to Pretoria

pretoria - pretoria could become the first city in south africa to have an integrated public train service to the gautrain standard.

gautrain management agency chief executive jack van der merwe announced on thursday that the envisaged moloto line between pretoria and kwandebele would be "of the same standard as the gautrain".

this means, inter alia, that the planned r9.7bn line, like the gautrain, would be built according to the international track width of 1 435mm.

south africa's present tracks are 1 067mm wide - a legacy of the british colonial empire and out of step with the rest of the world.

public transport, roads and works mec ignatius jacobs said that thousands of workers get up at 03:00 each day to catch a bus to work in pretoria, and return home only at 19:00 - too late to spend time with their children.

some commuters travel 195km to work, and just as many back each day, on buses subsidised by government. the moloto road is notorious for frequent horrific bus accidents with an accompanying loss of lives.

van der merwe says that the national transport department is busy appointing a professional team to lay the railway line. he is unable to say when construction will begin. the moloto line will run from groblersdal to the koedoespoort station in the east of pretoria.

koedoespoort is about 8km from hartbeesspruit near hatfield in pretoria, where the gautrain route from johannesburg will end. the intention is to replace the current narrow-gauge track between these two points with the international track width in order to connect the two lines.

a further proposal to convert the pretoria ring rail system to the international track width, resulting in a totally integrated railway system, is under consideration by government.

the ring rail has about 26 stations along a circular route from koedoespoort, through residential areas in die moot, to pretoria west and via pretoria station in the city centre to muckleneuk and hatfield.

the narrower gauge will enable trains to go faster, considerably shortening travelling time.

the coaches for the current narrower track have to be specially manufactured, while coaches for the international width are available worldwide from various manufacturers.