Signalling fault on airport line delays Gautrain passengers

Travellers using Gautrain to get to OR Tambo International Airport faced the possibility of missed flights on Wednesday morning after “technical problems” were experienced on the east-west line.

Passengers onboard the first Sandton-bound train on that line were informed by the driver of the delays and told the train would be cruising at “30km/h between stations”.

The train service later took to Twitter to announce: “Passengers using the Airport line can expect an extended journey time of approx 45mins due to a signalling problem.”

Passengers using the Airport line can expect an extended journey time of approx 45mins due to a signalling problem.

— Gautrain (@TheGautrain) December 7, 2016

Gautrain said its “technicians are attending” to the issue‚ but had not indicated at the time of publication how long it would take before normal service would resume.

In May this year‚ when the same problem was experienced on the east-west line‚ Gautrain explained that the signalling system failure meant manual authorisations were required before trains could enter and exit stations in the affected part of the line‚ and trains on the entire line had to travel at a lower speed than usual as a result.