• Passengers this morning are experiencing delays of up to two hours on the Gautrain between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
• The Gautrain says that a “technical problem” is behind the delays.
• At the beginning of the month, the company hiked its fares by around 8 percent generally.

Commuters on the Gautrain Tuesday morning are taking to social media to complain about long delay times while riding the train between Johannesburg and Pretoria. This includes delays to start the train while passengers were seated, and the train moving slowly on the line.

Some passengers have posted that they have been waiting for as much as two hours between stations.

Officially, the Gautrain says that it is experiencing delays of up to 50 minutes on the North/South line. It says the issue emerged from a “technical problem experienced this morning”, but that the airport service is working, and technicians are working to resolve the problem.

In April, passengers were stuck on the train between the Midrand and Centurian stations for at least two hours as the train service suffered a power interruption, which of course means that its electrical trains will not be able to move.

Many on social media are saying that the Gautrain service has been plagued by many technical issues recently, which cause unwanted delays usually in the morning at the height of rush hour.

The delays today are hot on the heels of the Gautrain increasing prices of fares (PDF) between stations on 1st June 2024. The main increases are in fares to travel from stations to OR Tambo International Airport, with the highest increase from Marlboro Station in Sandton to the airport – from R191 to R206 (nearly 8 percent increase.)

Hatfield and Centurion Stations to OR Tambo to increase from R217 to R234, and fares from Midrand, Rosebank or Park Stations to the airport will increase from R202 to R217. In general, daily train trips will see price increases between 6 percent and 8 percent according to tables published by the company.

Gautrain has been sending SMSs to its passengers, apologising for delays.

[Image – CC by 2.0/Darren Smith]