The Gautrain is coming soon…

The Gautrain is going to start running between Pretoria and Johannesburg any day now.  And I can’t wait.

When it first started running between Sandton and Rhodesfield station my sister and I made a morning of it.  We drove to Sandton one Sunday morning, had breakfast in the square and then headed to the station.  I couldn’t believe we had something so first world in South Africa, and my sister who has never been across our borders thought she was overseas.

We got our golden passes, loaded money on them and then headed down to the platform 12 storeys below streetlevel.  Of all the passengers waiting for the train, only two had suitcases, and it was obvious everybody else was there purely for the joyride.  Now I know that almost every foreigner, or anyone who has been travelling abroad for that matter, might yawn about our new train.  But let me tell you: This is Africa people, and it is bloody amazing!

Now we are all waiting for the announcement that the train is ready to run between  O.R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg and Pretoria. I have a vision of myself on the day, clutching my golden pass, with sweaty palms and white knuckles  (like an athlete waiting for the starting pistol) waiting to get on the train.

I have seen it doing it’s test runs, and it feels a little surreal (especially now with the yellow African winter landscape), to see this silver bulletshaped train speeding along.

It is going to be so convenient to get to Jo’burg now for all the commuters who work in Johannesburg.  But for all of us, and especially guest visiting Kirkness Guesthouse it will be a breeze to go to Rosebank or Sandton for lunch, or a movie that is not showing in Pretoria (Why oh why, Cinema Nouveau?).  But best of all will be:  getting to and from the airport!

A shuttle from the airport to Kirkness Guesthouse usually costs around R400.00 one way.  But very soon our guests will be able to get on the Gautrain at O.R. Tambo, take the train to Hatfield Station, and then get on a bus that will drop them only a few hundred meters from Kirkness Guesthouse.  For only R125.00 per person (one-way)!

As soon as we know more and have more details I will post it here.  In the meantime you can visit their website at www.gautrain.co.za

Yay!

Johann

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.