The Cabinet has approved a framework for a high-speed rail with a feasibility study prioritised for the Johannesburg to Durban corridor.
This as a new smart city in the area, currently known as Lanseria, is expected to be home to between 350 000 and 500 000 people by 2030.
This was revealed by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he was responding to a parliamentary question from DA leader John Steenhuisen, who enquired about progress made in delivering the bullet trains and smart cities he promised during the State of the Nation Address in June 2019.
Ramaphosa at the time expressed his vision for a South Africa where the first entirely new city constructed in the democratic era would emerge, featuring skyscrapers, schools, universities, hospitals, and factories.
“We should imagine a country where a bullet train passes through Johannesburg as it travels to Musina and it stops in Buffalo City on the way from eThekwini to here in Cape Town,” he said after he was re-elected for the full term ending next year.
In his written response, Ramaphosa said he invited South Africans to look beyond the challenges of the present and to imagine a country of high speed trains, smart cities and a high-tech economy.
“I said that to reinvigorate the implementation of the National Development Plan, ‘we must cast our sights on the broadest of horizons’.
“This bolder vision of a technologically-advanced society has received practical attention over the last few years,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the Department of Transport has developed a high-speed rail (HSR) framework that provides for three potential high-speed rail corridors.
“The framework has prioritised and ranked the corridors using internationally benchmarked criteria,” he said.
“The Johannesburg to Durban corridor was identified as the highest-ranking potential high-speed rail corridor, with the Pretoria to Mbombela to Komatipoort corridor, and Johannesburg to Pretoria to Polokwane to Musina corridor, ranking second and third, respectively.”
He said the Cabinet approved in November the high-speed rail framework for implementation and for the Johannesburg to Durban corridor to be prioritised for a feasibility study.
“The Department of Transport plans to establish a high-speed rail project management office to take this process forward,” he said.
In June, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said a policy on the HSR was approved by Cabinet and funds have been secured for the feasibility study.
“The Department of Transport has developed a HSR framework following the adoption of the national rail policy by Cabinet on March 23, 2022. Drawing its policy direction from the national rail policy, the HSR framework provides the foundation for the prioritisation of HSR corridors in the country.”
Chikunga had indicated that the framework identified the objectives of HSR and the criteria to be used in prioritising and ranking potential HSR corridors in the country.
According to Ramaphosa, the smart city project aimed to establish a new smart city in the area of Lanseria that will be home to between 350 000 and 500 000 people by 2030.
“The master plan is managed and co-ordinated by the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency, with the support of local, provincial and national government. Support is being provided for the development of bulk infrastructure through the allocation by the Department of Human Settlements of an Urban Settlements Development Grant.”
Cape Times