Following President Ramaphosa’s announcement of a national lockdown in an effort to combat the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, the Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, has subsequently announced that all commuter rail services will shut down for the duration of the lockdown. This includes all Metrorail and Gautrain services.
In full compliance with this announcement by the Minister of Transport, Gautrain services (trains, buses, and midi-buses) will be suspended from midnight on Thursday, 26 March.
During the national lockdown, additional security measures will be implemented to protect the Gautrain infrastructure. The tracks will remain powered during the lockdown period and security will continue to patrol and monitor the alignment. From time to time, the public may observe trains on the East-West and North-South lines. These trains will not be transporting passengers but rather operating for essential maintenance purposes.
Vehicles at Gautrain Parking
Persons defined as essential services personnel by the President will be permitted to remove their vehicles from Gautrain stations during the lockdown period, with prior arrangement being made. These persons are urged to contact the Customer Care centre on 0800 428 87246 and to advise at which station the vehicle is parked, as well as the date and time when the vehicle is to be collected. Gautrain will make a special arrangement for the particular station to be open for the vehicle to be removed.
Passengers who are not employed by essential services, as defined by the President, must abide by the regulations of the lockdown and will therefore not be permitted to remove their vehicles from Gautrain stations during the lockdown. These vehicles will remain locked at the Gautrain station for the duration of the lockdown and passengers are recommended to inform their insurers of this temporary change.
Parking charges for the duration of the lockdown will be waived and passengers will therefore not be required to pay for parking between Friday, 27 March and Thursday, 16 April.
Refunds of weekly and monthly products
Passengers who have purchased a weekly or monthly product and have been unable to fully utilise it due to the outbreak of COVID-19, may submit an online refund claim. Passengers will receive a full refund on all unused trips on the weekly/monthly product. No admin fee will apply nor will passengers be required to provide any supporting documentation when making a claim. Whilst product refunds are typically only processed once the product has expired, Gautrain understands that passengers may require their refund sooner than the expiry date. In these cases, passengers are advised to block their Gautrain card online before submitting their claim. Online refunds are likely to take between three and five business days to be processed.
Since Gautrain cards will be blocked (either by the passenger online or by the Refunds Team), passengers will be reimbursed an additional amount of R17 to enable them to purchase a new Gautrain card once Gautrain services resume.
The Refunds Team will be working remotely during the lockdown period and will be able to process refunds during this time.
The Customer Care team will also be working remotely and remains available to assist with any passenger queries during the lockdown period. The LiveChat platform, as well as social media pages, will also remain active and will be attended to by the Customer Care team.