French construction giant Bouygues said the train's first segment, linking OR Tambo International Airport and the posh Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, will open in time for the June 11 kick-off of Africa's first World Cup.
The segment "will be handed over on June 8, three weeks ahead of our original schedule," said Christian Gazaignes, Bouygues' executive director.
Trackworks and associated railway infrastructure are complete and this section of the Gautrain route is now operational. Ticket vending machines and fare gates have been installed and testing of the system is in progress.
At Sandton station, construction work on the multi-level parkade and erection of structural steelwork canopies that will form the entrance structure on the corner of Rivonia Road and West Street is under way.
Although the train is not a World Cup project, its readiness would ease concern that existing public transport plans may not be sufficient for the many thousands of visitors expected in SA for the event.
Barbara Jensen, spokeswoman for the project, told Business Day yesterday that although the airport-to-Sandton link was not a World Cup project, "chances are very good that it can be ready".
She said the project managers would make a final call on the deadline within the next two weeks.
[W]ith just one press of the button the blast would take down the hewn wall and open up the 15,5km tunnel between Park station and Sandton, making one continuous conduit that has taken three years to construct.
The tunnels came from opposite directions - one was en route from the Shaft E2 site in Rosebank, while the other came from the Park station site.
[Gautrain Management Authority chief executive officer Jack] Van der Merwe said that 14km of the 15km of tunnelling has been completed and that 25 percent of the track-laying has been done.
The bulk of the civil works has been completed.
Van der Merwe said an announcement would be made next month on whether the OR Tambo to Sandton route would be complete two weeks before the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
The first phase is still scheduled to be up and running by the end of June next year, although it may be accelerated to wrap in May, in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The decision on this is still pending.
The initial phase encompasses the rail network between the OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton, and includes the stations at OR Tambo, Rhodesfield, Marlboro and Sandton, together with the depot and operations control centre located near Allandale road, in Midrand.
The second phase, being constructed concurrently, will be completed in 54 months, towards 2011.