South Africa has entered the modern age with a high speed line that will run about 50 miles and end up costing about $3.5 billion in American currency. This seems high, but includes all new right-or-way, stations, equipment, and design. Engineering News has several reports. Get your conversion charts and maps out.
GAUTRAIN
R6-billion already spent on R25-billion Gautrain project
Picture by: GAUTRAIN PROJECT OFFICE
PARK STATION Excavation of the tunnel portal to the floor level is almost complete. When the floor of this excavation is reached, tunnelling work to Rosebank station will start. The final vertical depth of the excavation will be nearly 25 m below the existing ground surface. It is currently at around 20 m
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Gautrain road diversions delayedSix-billion rands of the Gautrain rapid-rail link’s R25-billion budget has been spent, says Gautrain man- agement agency CEO Jack van der Merwe.
This figure may seem high, especially as the system will only be fully operational in 2011, but this can be attributed to the initial procurement of machinery and materials, he notes.
By the end of April, spending on procurement from, and subcontracting to, empowerment firms had reached R246-million, with procurement from new empowerment firms totalling R48-million.
About R75-million had been spent on procurement from, and subcontracting to, small, medium-sized, and microenterprises, while the project had acquired South African materials, plant and equipment to the value of R79-million.
Construction started in September 2006.
Filed under: International High Speed Rail
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