Gautrain by numbers

MORE than 10 million people have travelled on Gautrain since the first train started running on 8 June 2010.

By 21 June 2012, trains had journeyed more than 300 million kilometres – the equivalent of 7 500 trips around the world. And the rapid rail has achieved an average train punctuality of nearly 99 percent, according to Kelebogile Machaka, Gautrain’s media and communications manager. In this time, Gautrain buses have carried about 2 million passengers.

The first trip was a ride from Sandton Station to OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, signalling the first of many successful runs. To add the icing on the cake of success, no passenger-related contact crimes have been reported and only 3.4 property crimes, primarily from vehicles left unlocked in the car parks, have been recorded per million passengers.

To celebrate reaching the 10 million-passenger mark, Gautrain’s operators, Bombela Concession Company, has invited the holder of Gautrain gold card number 2066032048 to contact the company to claim a prize from Wilderness Safari’s Pafuri Camp.

The holder of this card is the most frequent Gautrain user to date, with over 900 train trips and over 400 bus trips completed between Sandton and Rhodesfield stations. He or she should contact the Gautrain call centre on 0800 GAUTRAIN (428 87246), email bombelacommunications@bombela.com or SMS “alert” to 32693.

Efforts to improve the Gautrain system are continuing. Bombela chief executive Jerome Govender says “the opening of the Park Station leg marked the beginning of full operations. It is gratifying that the certification to operate was granted by an independent certifier.”

Bombela, which is led by French transit operator RATP Development, will now focus fully on improving customer service and operational excellence, according to Govender.