The Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) was mulling the acquisition of 40 new Gautrain rail cars, said GMA CEO Jack van der Merwe on Tuesday.

“We will have to make a decision before the end of the year.”

Van der Merwe told Engineering News Online that any new rail cars would be based on the Bombardier Electrostar model, similar to the rolling stock currently in use on the 80 km Gautrain system.

Any new Gautrain rolling stock would have to be acquired by the Gauteng government, even if the system was operated by the Bombela Concession Company (BCC). All Gautrain assets, rolling stock included, belonged to the Gauteng government. GMA is an agency of the provincial government.

Van der Merwe said the cost of buying 40 new rail cars had not yet been determined.

The current fleet consisted of 96 rail cars.

Van der Merwe added that the need for the additional rolling stock came as the Gautrain system now carried 52 000 train passengers a day, up from 45 000 passengers recorded in July, and 26 000 recorded in April 2012.

The signing of legislation in September that would enable e-tolling on Gauteng’s highways could further push up the rail system’s numbers.

BCC in July noted that it could double only one more morning train to eight cars on the Pretoria–Johannesburg line before it had allocated all the rolling stock it had available for the north–south service.

The commissioning of all available trains, bar the ones that ply the airport line, and also one standby train, was slated only for 2026, when the BCC concession ran out.