President Cyril Ramaphosa says that the government is committed to its goal of launching a bullet train in South Africa.
During his recent State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa stated that the Department of Transport is continuing with its preparations to launch high-speed rail services that will connect the country’s major metropolitan areas.
The president indicated that the first phase of this ambitious project will focus on a strategic corridor connecting KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Limpop.
“Now this I’ve been saying that we would like this to cover routes such as Johannesburg and Musina, and eThekwini to Johannesburg,” he said.
Ramaphosa reasoned that South Africa cannot afford to lag behind the rest of the world with regard to new transport solutions, highlighting the fact that high-speed rail is now commonplace in many countries.
“High-speed trains are happening in many parts of the world,” said the president, noting that they can drastically reduce travel times between larger cities.
The president criticised the long travel times between South Africa’s cities, calling them unacceptable for a modern economy.
“In my book, it should no longer take five to six hours to travel from eThekwini or Durban to Johannesburg.”
Ramaphosa took similar issue with the journey from Gauteng to the Zimbabwe border, noting that it currently takes “4.5 hours from Johannesburg to Musina, when it can be done in a much shorter space of time”.
He claimed that there is strong public support for the rail project, and that the government has already done market testing to determine the value that the new infrastructure could provide.
It was revealed that nearly 30 companies have expressed interest in participating in the creation of South Africa’s high-speed rail network, following a request for information last year.
The next step is to move from early-stage development to formal procedure.
“We are preparing to send out a request for proposals, which will introduce a new era of long-distance rail travel in South Africa at a faster pace.”
Another empty promise?
The country’s first bullet train, the Limpopo-Gauteng Speed Train Project, is expected to launch in 2030.
First announced in 2023, the project aims to establish a roughly 500km-long route from Pretoria through to Polokwane and Musina.
It is currently undergoing feasibility studies and environmental impact assessments, a crucial step to ensure that the new train is safe, environmentally sound, and economically vialble.
Led by the Department of Transport, the Gauteng and Limpopo provincial governments, and private investors, the project’s current development goal is to secure funding and finalise the technical groundwork for its creation.
Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2026, though the first trains are only expected to be operational by 2030.
However, this is not the first time South Africa has promised major upgrades to its rail and public transport services.
Many of these plans never left the drawing board, as is the case with the high-speed rail framework, which was discussed as far back as 2010 under former transport minister Sibusiso Ndebele.
Ramaphosa first made a declaration to launch a bullet train in South Africa back in 2019, envisioning a service where citizens could take a train from Johannesburg to Musina, Buffalo City, or eThekwini.
In 2022, then-transport minister Fikile Mbalula gazetted a National Rail Policy White Paper that formally introduced high-speed rail corridors as a key development objective.
This was approved by Cabinet in November 2023, and Ramaphosa later announced in his 2024 State of the Nation address that the government would prioritize feasibility studies for the ambitious rail project.
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