Johannesburg – Illegal drilling activity on private property above a tunnel has disrupted the Gautrain service.
In a statement on Saturday,(15 February 2025), the Gautrain Management Agency said: “Gautrain wishes to inform its valued customers of a disruption to its services between Park and Rosebank Stations”.
The high-speed train statement added: “This disruption is due to water and soil seeping into the tunnel section of the System”.
Gautrain is an 80-kilometre higher-speed commuter rail system in Gauteng, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kempton Park and O. R. Tambo International Airport.
Parts of the rail network runs below ground in tunnels, while the rest of the network runs above ground.
“Our investigation has established that there was an illegal drilling activity on a private property located above the tunnel,” said the Gautrain Management Agency.
“This activity was not approved in accordance with the requirements of the Gauteng Transport Infrastructure Act (GTIA).
“This illegal activity therefore caused the ingress of water and soil into the tunnel that impacts our ability to operate the system between these two stations.”
Gautrain Management Agency said to mitigate the inconvenience to passengers, a Gautrain bus replacement service has been set up between Park and Rosebank Stations.
This bus service will be increased to accommodate additional passengers as necessary.
“We appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding as we continue our investigations to identify the owners of the private property where the drilling is suspected to have occurred, as well as the remedial measures that will be implemented to enable the restoration of the full Gautrain services,” said the Gautrain Management Agency
“The Gautrain apologises for the inconvenience caused by this disruption and hereby commits to keep our customers updated as more information becomes available.
“We urge all stakeholders to follow due process when any land use changes or construction activities are planned in the vicinity of transport infrastructure in Gauteng so that such occurrences are prevented in the future.”
