Jo’burg-Durban by rail in two hours?

Imagine travelling by train from Johannesburg to Durban in almost two hours or travelling by high speed train to any country in southern Africa.

This is no longer a science fiction discussion with feasibility studies already conducted by Chinese and African governments and companies.

Speaking at the recent Southern African Transport Conference (SATC) in Pretoria, Fred Wen of China Railway Group provided a detailed look at a high speed railway network between Johannesburg and Durban – with speeds of up to 300km/h.

“We conducted a feasibility study in 2010 looking at two options. One being a passenger dedicated railway at 300km/h and the other being a mixed-use line for people and cargo running between 180km/h and 200km/h,” explained Wen.
He did however point out that the current power situation in South Africa was a limiting factor, as a high-speed railway network running over 550km in two hours would use the same amount of power that is currently used to power Johannesburg and Durban for a week.

“That is why there is the second option for passengers and cargo. It is not technically a high-speed railway as the speed is between 180km/h and 200km/h – but power consumption is one-third of the cost and the infrastructure costs less than a passenger-dedicated railway line,” he explained.

However, this remains in the future. There will be a high speed train network between Johannesburg and Durban, but it will not be in the next few decades, according to Wen.