Gautrain repair work delays passengers
A CASE of “safety first” left Gautrain passengers between Rosebank and Sandton stuck in queues and late for work as a disruption meant they had to catch buses.
The service was disrupted on the route this morning after overnight maintenance went into overtime, prompting passengers to vent their anger about delays.
However, Gautrain spokesman Errol Braithwaite said the maintenance was a “precautionary” intervention and in the interest of safety.
“As I understand there was an electrical problem on one of the components in that tunnel,” he said.
The team had picked up on the problem overnight but hadn’t been able to fix it by the time the trains were due to start. At the time of publication he said it appeared the problem was the electric supply to the ventilation fans in that section of the tunnel.
Instead of catching the train, passengers had to make use of the shuttle bus service – at no additional charge – between Rosebank and Sandton.
Activist Kathy van den Berghe, who took the train shuttle from Hatfield in Pretoria after 8am, had planned to be in Joburg by 10am at the latest.
But she was one of the few hundred people who waited for the bus outside Gautrain’s Sandton station at 9.30am.
“I did not know about the delays. But luckily I am not an average commuter who depends on it every day,” she said.
Customer services manager Christina Blignault said: “Subscribers of the Gautrain SMS system received notification of the technical failure at 6.30am.” But not all passengers were angered by the disruption. “Actually it Angry passenger tweets: “Sandton Gautrain station looks like a taxi rank, as people line-up waiting for buses. *chuckles*” – Mabine Seabe “I want to know how long we’ll have these delays. I’m SUPER late. Was supposed to be in Hatfield already!!” – @MizzRulo “Stuck at the Sandton gautrain station. Now in the taxi to Rosebank. Mis the luxury and safety of the Guatrain (sic) Shuttle,” – Thembani Ndebele “Wish I knew about these Gautrain issues before I left my car at the home. This is chaos outside the Sandton station,” – Ndumiso Khoza “We are being ferried by shuttles to Rosebank… Hectic and the temperature soaring?SMH! #Gautrain” – @ TebzaMatabletz