Gautrain Sandton Station

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Sandton is a metro station on the Gautrain rapid transit system in Sandton, Johannesburg. It opened to traffic on 8 June 2010 with service to OR Tambo International Airport.

Developers and the Gauteng government aim to make Sandton station the centre of one of the first transit-oriented development projects in South Africa. Because of the area's financial importance, with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange being a major focal point, and location near a number of important roads, such development would also require an upgrade of the arterial road network in the surrounding area.

The area surrounding Sandton station has been divided into six management areas, which cover land use, development density, and pedestrian accessibility. Management Area 1, bounded by Sandton Street, Katherine Street, Rivonia Road, and Fredman Drive, encircles Sandton Square and the immediate vicinity of the station and is planned to contain buildings of up to 40 storeys with a development density of 110 units per hectare, thus categorising it as high-density and mixed-use.

In addition, a series of pedestrian corridors will traverse the district, creating a grid to enable more pedestrian-friendly development and to encourage walking and sustainability. Subsequent and more distant management areas have lower height restrictions of ten to fifteen storeys while maintaining the 110 units per hectare density requirement, which centralises development towards a defined central business district.

Architecturally, Sandton is unique amongst Gautrain stations. Although it is not the only underground station, it is the only one with a two-level platform arrangement. The upper level will serve trains on the north-south axis of the system, with trains heading southbound to Park Station in central Johannesburg and northbound to Pretoria, while the lower level has only one platform and acts as the terminus for OR Tambo International Airport-bound trains.

Sandton station is the operational hub of the Gautrain system. Along with Marlboro, it is one of only two stations in the entire network to be served by all trains on the Airport and North-South lines, the latter of which will open in 2011.

In addition, Sandton also has six additional feeder bus routes bringing riders from more distant areas to the station. Numbered S1-6, the buses will travel to Wendywood (S2), Rivonia (S3), Randburg (S4), Fourways (S5), and Rosebank (S6), as well as a Sandton CBD loop (S1).

1 year ago