Organisers of South Africa 2010 had hoped fans would arrive at Johannesburg airport and board a high-speed train to the commercial centre.
Instead, most football fans' first experience will now be a taxi or a shuttle bus and more than likely a sizable traffic jam, our correspondent says.
For the past three years builders have been working on the Gautrain - an ambitious $3.5bn (£2bn) project linking Johannesburg, Pretoria and the airport.
Contractors, under pressure to complete before next June's deadline, demanded an additional $180m (£107m) to accelerate their work and hit the target.
SA World Cup rail project delayed
BBC
November 9, 2009
