{"id":601670,"date":"2025-07-09T08:56:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T06:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=601670"},"modified":"2025-07-09T08:56:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T06:56:40","slug":"south-africas-first-bullet-train-gets-launch-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/601670-south-africas-first-bullet-train-gets-launch-date.html","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s first bullet train gets launch date"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Transport and two provinces plan to launch South Africa’s first rail network for long-distance high-speed rail (HSR) in 2030, TopAuto reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transport department and the Gauteng and Limpopo provincial governments recently provided an update on the project’s progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Limpopo-Gauteng Speed Train project is currently undergoing feasibility and environmental impact studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction on the 500km north-south railway is expected to start in late 2026, with the first trains on the network operational by 2030. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The planned line will run from Pretoria at its southernmost point to Musina in the far north of Limpopo, passing through Hammanskraal, Bela-Bela, Mokopane, Polokwane, and Louis Trichardt along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first phase of the project will focus on a section between Pretoria and Polokwane, the capital city of Limpopo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It currently takes about two and a half to three hours to cover this route in a car via the N1, assuming there are no delays due to traffic or congestion at toll gates along the freeway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “speed train,” often referred to as a “bullet train” by President Cyril Ramaphosa, will supposedly be able to cover the first section in one hour and 30 minutes \u2014 cutting an hour from the car journey time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The distance between Pretoria and Polokwane is roughly 265km, so the train should travel at an average speed of 177km\/h along this stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this is somewhat below the speeds of HSR services, the train would only need to exceed 200km\/h on the fastest sections of the line to technically qualify as a “bullet train”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Limpopo-Gauteng Speed Train will be rolled out alongside the second phase expansion of the Gautrain, which will see the high-speed commuter service’s network expand from 80km to 230km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the HSR master plan is only expected to be finalised by the end of 2025. This means the timeline could change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over a decade in the making<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
President Cyril Ramaphosa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Former transport minister Sibusiso Ndebele first championed plans to launch a long-distance HSR line in South Africa in 2010. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Ramaphosa reaffirmed the country’s plans for the service in his 2019 State of the Nation Address (SONA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We should imagine a country where bullet trains pass through Johannesburg as they travel from here to Musina, and they stop in Buffalo City on their way from eThekwini back here,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former transport director-general Alec Moemi said South Africa’s HSR framework had already been deployed and implemented and was anticipated to launch in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, former transport minister Fikile Mbalula only gazetted a National Rail Policy White Paper establishing the key HSR corridors in March 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his 2024 SONA, Ramaphosa confirmed the cabinet had approved this whitepaper in November 2023, including the HSR framework. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Johannesburg to Durban corridor was prioritised for a detailed feasibility study, as the government believes it presents a lucrative opportunity for competition with airlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa said Johannesburg-Polokwane to Musina and Johannesburg to Mbombela (corridors) will be put to the market,” the president said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the government has said it will fully fund the project, big questions remain regarding its budget. Estimates put the cost of the Johannesburg-Durban HSR line alone at around $30 billion (R533.8 billion). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the cost of the other most recent major railway project in South Africa \u2014 the Gautrain network \u2014 was grossly underestimated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transport department, provincial governments, and private investors are working to secure the funding and finalise the technical plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China has indicated interest in investing in the line between Johannesburg and Durban. The country has substantial experience and expertise in HSR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among its many high-speed trains is the Shanghai Maglev, which has achieved a record-high speed of 501km\/h, with an average speed of 251km\/h.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South African government expects its HSR project to have a substantial positive economic impact, especially for job creation and tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to passengers, the Gauteng Provincial Government previously said the train will be used to transport high-value goods and perishable foods. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The transport department has provided an update on the long-promised bullet train service between Gauteng and Limpopo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":601709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29366],"tags":[100487,21775,9365,76022,41246,100488,54271,59869,35420,100086,68380,75000],"class_list":["post-601670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-bullet-trains","tag-department-of-transport-dot","tag-gauteng","tag-high-speed-rail-hsr","tag-limpopo","tag-musina","tag-polokwane","tag-president-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-pretoria","tag-rail-services","tag-topauto","tag-trains"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601670"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":601776,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601670\/revisions\/601776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}