Cost of the Gautrain

[adsl3g]

Something to think about....

To put the cost of the new Gautrain development into perspective, ***** and Associates has come up with a few suggestions on what could be done with the R13bn extra the development will now cost (as opposed to the initially expected R7bn).


Instead of a train you could buy some top of the range S-class Mercedes Benz and park them nose to tail to form a "train" that would be long enough to go around the world.


Since most South Africans use minibus taxis instead of S-Class Mercedes Benz, you could run a fleet of taxis, free of charge to commuters, from Johannesburg to Pretoria with a taxi leaving each town every two minutes, maintain them at the AA rate of R2.50 per km, replace all the taxis every month and you would only run out of money after 50 years.


You could add 44 more lanes to the M1 highway.


If you prefer to walk, a good bricklayer, if he made little brick tiles using stacks of 30 R100 notes, could lay a blue paved walkway, 1m wide from Johannesburg to Pretoria. We would have R400 000 left over to pay the bricklayer for his work, which should only take half as long to finish as the Gautrain.


Or if you want smart people to figure this out you could pay for a university degree for every single 19 year old Gauteng resident and ask them what to do with the money.



Source: **** & Associates

edit: removed name as no indication as to who the source is

[diabolus]

Instead of a train you could buy some top of the range S-class Mercedes Benz and park them nose to tail to form a "train" that would be long enough to go around the world.

..or you can rename the airport instead. They should compare this to how much money is being wasted by the government on enriching themselves and Municipal Officials.

You could add 44 more lanes to the M1 highway.

Sure, i guess its one way to remove the squatter camps. Lets start with one more lane on the entire N1 and N2 instead....
(is the government concerned about road safety? guess not)

Since most South Africans use minibus taxis instead of S-Class Mercedes Benz, you could run a fleet of taxis, free of charge to commuters, from Johannesburg to Pretoria with a taxi leaving each town every two minutes, maintain them at the AA rate of R2.50 per km, replace all the taxis every month and you would only run out of money after 50 years.

Yea will probably require replacing all 44 lanes every month too.

Or if you want smart people to figure this out you could pay for a university degree for every single 19 year old Gauteng resident and ask them what to do with the money.

Yea? why didn't they do it already , are they concerned about education? Guess not.


Real question is, if the cost of the train is so much and there's obviously so uch more better stuff to spend the money on....WHY DON'T I SEE IT HAPPENING?

I'm not really for or against the gautrain...but i rather see it built at huge expense than seeing the same money going nowhere (because i fear the gov is incapable of building those 44 lanes or managing a system of replacing taxis every month or actually getting black students into university....) We all know what will REALLY happen with the money if they don't spend it on building a silly train....right?

[Dolby]

Actually puts things into perspective ....

[craigsa]

Waste waste waste. That should be the ANC motto. Abetter life for all ? Bwahahaha what a load of crap.
Can you imagine the kickbacks going on here ?

[Moederloos]

I find that article hard to believe, but my math can suck, so any corrections duly noted!

R20bn is 20 000 million rand. Assume a Mercedes costs R20 000 (only!!) that means 1 million cars can be bought. If a Merc is 4 metres long, that would be 4 million metres or 4 000 kms. Good enough to go around the earth? not - and at just R20 000 per car (and not the R500 000 or so it would set you back).

A guess at the "money bricks" puts it around R3000 per brick, 20 bricks wide to the metre and 10 metres "high" or 200 bricks per square metre - R600 000 per 1sq metre. = 600 000 * 1000 = R600 million per km. R600 million * 50km = 30 billion.

The rest? 44 lanes - no way. Provisional cost estimate for a small two lane road near a town house I lived at - 500metres or so long? R1 million.

As for the "fleet" - no indication is given to fleet size. A minimum of 60 cars would be needed (30 per hour, a set each way). That means 3000 cars in 50 years - 150 000 cars @ R1 000 000 = R150 billion. Divide that by two to get R500 000 per car and we can see that figure is also unjustified - and no petrol or driver costs were included in my calc - but already we have R75 billion rand on that crazy sheme - and we only get to move 120 people per hour each way.

[craigsa]

- 500metres or so long? R1 million.

I heard that too from a guy who's father worked for the Transport Dept. Didn't believe it at first but maybe it's true.

[useless]

the thing is if they do build the gautrain at least you can see whether thay actually spend the R20 billion.

i wonder what would happen if the DA would win the elections before the Gautrain is finished though. How would the kickbacks err... kickback from their recipients?

[craigsa]

How would the kickbacks err... kickback from their recipients?

??

[useless]

i meant that the current people who got kickbacks... would they be eligible to "return" such kickbacks if the DA gets to rule?

long shot but heck anything can happen...

[craigsa]

Oh i see. LOL. Sorry didn't get it.

[kaspaas]

I was told the other day by a person very sceptical that the specs of the R20-billion train is much less than the original cheaper specs.

Eg: No more double line (1 each direction) between Sandton & Joburg.

The effective increase in the cost estimate apparently is much larger than what is being reported.

[DigitalSoldier]

And this whole gautrain was also planned in 1992 and then the new gov in 1994 scrapped that plans

[mirco30za]

Watch before it is finished the tracks are going to be stolen and made into supports for shack. and the old gov will be blamed or telkom are going to get upset because it would be cheaper to send a letter by the train then to use e-mail

[pookfuzz]

R20bn is 20 000 million rand. Assume a Mercedes costs R20 000 (only!!) that means....

A American billion is 1 000 000 000 ( one thousand million )
A British billion is 1 000 000 000 000 ( one million million )

[Moederloos]

A American billion is 1 000 000 000 ( one thousand million )
A British billion is 1 000 000 000 000 ( one million million )

True, but a SA billion is 1 000 000 000 (one thousand million or 10^9).