Cape Town – Four years after President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined his vision of a new state-of-the-art smart city with bullet trains, the Transport Department is set to conduct feasibility studies.
In 2019, Ramaphosa had, in his State of the Nation Address, dreamt of a South Africa where the first entirely new city built in the democratic era would rise with skyscrapers, schools, universities, hospitals and factories.
“We should imagine a country where a bullet train passes through Johannesburg as it travels to Musina and it stops in Buffalo City on the way from eThekwini to here in Cape Town,” he said after he was elected for his term that will come to an end next year.
EFF MP Nontando Nolutshungu recently wrote to Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, enquiring about the status of the bullet train Ramaphosa proposed in June 2019.
Nolutshungu also wanted to know whether a feasibility study had been conducted, how much it would cost, and the breakdown of the total amount spent on the project.
In her response, Chikunga said her department was still to undertake a feasibility study.
She said a policy on the high-speed rail was approved by Cabinet, and funds have been secured for the study.
“The Department of Transport has developed a high-speed rail (HSR) framework following the adoption of the national rail policy by Cabinet on March 23, 2022.
“Drawing its policy direction from the national rail policy, the HSR Framework provides the foundation for the prioritisation of HSR corridors in the country,” she said.
Chikunga also said the Framework identified the objectives of HSR and the criteria to be used in prioritising and ranking potential HSR corridors in the country.
“Following approval of the HSR Framework by Cabinet and the securing of the required funding, feasibility studies will be conducted on prioritised HSR corridors,” she said.
Cape Times
