Some 14km of the 15km long tunnel for South Africa’s 77km long Gautrain rapid rail project have been completed. Breakthrough on the final section is expected this month.
The underground route of the Gautrain stretches from Johannesburg’s Park station in the south to Parktown Ridge and on to Rosebank, Sandton, to where it surfaces at the Marlboro portal.
Breakthrough has been achieved on all but one section with the most recent on 22 June between Emergency Shaft 7 and Sandton station. The final hole through will be on the southern Rosebank to Park Station stretch between Emergency Shaft 2 and Park Station.
A portion of this 5554m stretch heading south from Rosebank was excavated using a 6.68m diameter Herrenknecht TBM (S-386) but the remainder will be excavated in the opposite direction using drill and blast technology. At the end of June 1323m had been excavated north of Park Station.
Spokeswoman for Gautrain Rapid Rail Link Ingrid Jensen told T&TI that at the end of June some 14,302m of tunnel had been fully excavated.
The contractor is the Bouygues-led joint venture Bombela Civils, and the tunnel was designed by Atkins. Bombela Concession Co developed the entire 77km long rail project. The Gautrain, which government estimates will carry 300,000 passengers a day by 2011, will see a minimum of six trains an hour running in peak times between Johannesburg, Tshwane and O.R. Tambo International Airport.
