South Africa is getting a new bullet train that will run from Gauteng to Limpopo, passing through seven towns and cities in the process.
The ambitious project is being developed in a partnership between the two provinces and is intended to foster economic growth through greater ease of travel.
What to expect
The new bullet train is part of the Gauteng-Limpopo Rail Link Project, which will be developed in two phases.
The primary goal of the programme is to create a high-speed rail line that will connect the capital cities of both provinces, thereby linking the economic hub of Gauteng with its less-developed neighbour.
Phase one of the project will, therefore, create a route that begins in Pretoria and ends in Polokwane, passing through the smaller towns of Hammanskraal, Bela-Bela, and Mokopane on its way.
Once this task is complete, the provincial governments will move on to phase two, which will extend the line even further north to the towns of Louis Trichardt and Musina – the latter of which is right on the country’s border with Zimbabwe.
In other words, the completed Gauteng-Limpopo Rail Link Project will pass through these seven locations in order:
- Pretoria
- Hammanskraal
- Bela-Bela
- Mokopane
- Polokwane
- Louis Trichardt
- Musina
You can see a rough illustration of the route that the train will follow below:
For anyone using a car, this trip would be approximately 497km long and take about six hours, but the estimations provided by the Gauteng government suggest that the railway will be about 420km.
The “bullet train” is expected to be noticeably quicker over the route, though no estimations on travel times have been provided as yet.
The railway is still in the early planning stage, but it’s possible that the Pretoria station will be located close to the city’s northernmost Gautrain station in Hatfield, as the Gautrain will form part of the new commuter service the province is developing.
This is according to Jack van der Merwe, CEO of the Gauteng Transport Authority and former CEO of the Gautrain Management Agency, who stated that the Gautrain will play a major role in the new Gauteng-to-Limpopo service.
Relatedly, Gautrain is planning a massive expansion in 2026 that will add another 150km of track and 19 new stations across Gauteng, which is likely to link up with the new line to Limpopo.
Unfortunately, it will still be a long time before the Gauteng-Limpopo Rail Link Project is completed, as the master plan for the country’s new high-speed rail service is only expected to be finalized by the end of 2025.
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