The Department of Transport (DoT) has announced that it plans on undertaking a feasibility study that will look at a possible high-speed rail link between Johannesburg and Durban that would benefit both local commuters and tourists.
The link, one of three possible high-speed rail links for the country, is expected to encourage speedy commuting between the two cities and would ease congestion on roads and offer an alternative to air travel between the destinations.
Other possible rail links include those between Johannesburg and Cape Town and Johannesburg and Musina.
The dual process of testing the market for a Johannesburg-Durban link and concept development will start as early as October and is expected to take the better duration of six months to complete.
Says DoT Director-General, George Mahlalela: “We are hoping that at the end of this process, we will be able to determine whether there is enough appetite for this project in the market. The initial scoping suggests that it is possible for this project to be commercially-driven based on a Public-Private-Partnership model.”
Mahlalela furthers that there is also the possibility of expanding this rail link for country-to-country co-operation.
He furthered that South Africa has seen vast increases in long-distance travel and travel by rail is an adequate mode to address new demand at a reasonable cost.
Although not many more details could be offered by the DoT at this point, Mahlalela did note that an important milestone in the process would be to have the concept framework for the project completed by the end of the current financial year, around March 2011.
What do you think this rail link could do for tourism? Let us know by leaving your comment below...
