Gautrain Management Agency confirms receiving route proposals
GMA confirms it has met with Sharonlea community and received proposals of two alternative to the route extension through the suburb.
The Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) confirmed they would consider the alternative routes for the Gautrain route extension provided to them by the Sharonlea community.
Furthermore, the next stage of the project – the preliminary design stage – is scheduled for procurement at the beginning of the 2023 financial year and is expected to take three to five years.
So said the agency’s acting executive manager of reputation, Tlago Ramalepa in response to questions asked by the Randburg Sun, after residents thanked the Greater Sharonlea Residents Forum and local engineers and architects for meeting with the agency and proposing two less-obstructive routes.
“The Gautrain Management Agency held a follow-up meeting with the Greater Sharonlea Residents Forum (GSRF) at the beginning of October 2022 with the intention of providing an opportunity for the GSRF to present their proposal to the GMA and for the GMA to provide clarity, background, planning and regulation that is involved in the development of the Gauteng Rapid Rail Integrated Network Extension project,” Ramalepa said.
She added the preliminary design stage would provide more clarity on the future route.
“The process includes extensive consultation with interested and affected parties as well as a full EIA [environmental impact assessment]. This duration includes the technical design, the EIA thereof, as well as consultation with interested and affected parties.”
The agency’s proposed route runs through Sharonlea with a corridor of 200m on either side of the centreline for spatial planning.
As it stands, many homes, schools and organisations in the suburb would be affected and or expropriated.
The first of the two proposed routes that the community proposed to the agency included ‘an extension of the rail from the [proposed] underground Randburg station’.
“The rail begins in a tunnel that descends towards Eton Avenue at which point it levels out and eventually ‘daylights’ at Ferndale Ext 6… We have proposed that instead of the rail levelling out at Eton Avenue, it could continue its descent and be able to make it underground through Sharonlea,” said forum chairperson JC Wouters.
This route would only impact the Klein Jukskei River as it would run over it before continuing under lower Sharonlea. This proposal would have the least impact on the suburb as it was mostly underground.
“The GMA feedback from this was that tunnelling [as we already know] is a costly exercise but it will be considered,” he added.
ALSO READ: Sharonlea community proposes alternative routes to Gautrain extension
The second proposal included shifting the corridor further south, where the rail continued over the N1 highway as originally planned on a viaduct, but on the opposite side of Malibongwe Drive.
“The viaduct would then continue over President Fouche Road [leaving it unobstructed] where it would travel on grade for a short section entering into a tunnel further up Malibongwe before reaching Mahogany [Street] where it could continue to run underground for the rest of the route towards Cosmo City station. This is all similar and in line with the current viaducts and tunnels in their [GMA] existing plans.”
He said this route was favoured by the GMA as it used similar grade, tunnel and viaduct ratios as before, used existing road infrastructure but which may require alterations to Malibongwe Drive, and did not introduce problems for other communities.
“We feel that the meeting outcome was positive in that there is still a willingness and continued commitment by GMA to work with Sharonlea and make alterations to the plan to minimise the impact on our suburb. We have been recognised as an organised community that has provided reasonable, logical and achievable suggestions to the current route,” said Wouters.
Wouters concluded the forum and community would continue to work with local engineers and architects to improve the alternative solutions.
Also read:
The Gautrain extension is necessary and will have economic benefits – GMA
Gautrain route extension will have an environmental impact as well
Residents affected by proposed Gautrain route give voice at public meeting
