Gautrain warning

The Automobile Association (AA) warned that the Gautrain is a financial train wreck and that any expansion must be stopped.

Last month, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi reiterated plans to significantly expand the Gautrain network, which is expected to cost the province tens of billions of rands.

“To uphold the position of Gauteng as the economic hub, we will accelerate our infrastructure investment,” Lesufi said in August.

“In less than two years, the Gauteng government will invest R120 billion for the expansion of the Gautrain from 80 km to 230 km, he said.

Lesufi said that expanding the rapid rail system would bring new areas into the fold, including Soweto, Fourways, Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Vaal, Lanseria, and Springs.

“The expansion is expected to create 125,000 jobs over five years, and the bid to construct these lines closes at the end of October 2024,” he said.

Currently, the 80 km Gautrain network launched in 2010 for R25 billion links Pretoria, Centurion, Johannesburg, Kempton Park, and O.R. Tambo International Airport.

Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) CEO Tshepo Kgobe said the expansion plans have been on the cards for a while and are on track.

However, he added that they are now planning a much wider network than the initial one that was released.

These plans do not sit well with the Automobile Association (AA), which said any expansion should be stopped.

“Any expansion of the current Gautrain service is wasteful expenditure on a service that doesn’t service the needs of most of Gauteng’s citizens,” the AA said.

It said spending billions on extending the service must be seriously reconsidered and stopped before it’s too late.

“Lesufi’s remarks that the province will invest R120 billion in the expansion of Gautrain over the next two years are cause for great concern,” it said.

“Any extensions perpetuate a system that caters for a minority of citizens who don’t need it at the expense of better public transport for the majority who need it most.”

The AA said the Patronage Guarantee remains one of the biggest issues facing the extensions and should be addressed before further work is done.

The Patronage Guarantee compensates Bombela, the private concessionaire that operates Gautrain, for low ridership on its trains.

The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport paid Bombela R2.79 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, up from R2.37 billion the year before.

This payment was made because “the actual revenue and ridership were significantly below the minimum required total revenue projections”.

“Billions of Gauteng taxpayer’s rands have been paid to Bombela since 2012 through the Patronage Guarantee,” the AA said.

The AA questioned whether figures provided to justify further extensions can be trusted, given that the current revenue projections already fall way short of the mark.

“It is quite clear that Gautrain failed to deliver on its ridership projections from the outset, and now the burden of funding falls on taxpayers,” the AA said.

The organisation argued that Gauteng residents who do not use the Gautrain because it is too expensive are subsidising it.

It added that there is a lack of reliable, sustainable, affordable, and safe public transport for the majority of the province’s citizens.

The Association said siphoning money from the Gauteng Roads and Infrastructure budget to Bombela means other transport options are not properly funded.

“We stand firm in our opposition to the extension of the Gautrain network and the continued funding of the system through the Patronage Guarantee,” the AA said.