The Gautrain again proved its reliability and efficiency when it beat a Maserati GranTurismo during a race that pitted 5fm’s breakfast team against its afternoon drive show team.
The race was part of a charity run organised by Menlyn shopping complex and The Zone @ Rosebank, where the two teams also had to do trolley runs to buy as many goods as possible for charities in 20 minutes.
The Maserati Gran Turismo left Hatfield Station just as the train departed but the car was soon stuck in traffic while the train made tremendous progress on the tracks.
By the time the train passed through Midrand, the car was still in Centurion where it was again stuck in traffic. It took the train 37 minutes to get to its destination while the vehicle could only manage to do it in 42 minutes.
Five minutes after the DJ Fresh team arrived at The Zone, the Maserati with the breakfast team pulled up to Liquid Chefs at The Zone Phase 2. The teams were welcomed by a marimba band.
DJ Fresh was highly impressed with the train and even compared it to those in the US and England.
“I have travelled on commuter trains abroad and the Gautrain is on the same level as them. It is clean and well organised. Commuting needs to be as clean as possible and I think they have achieved that,” he said.
Fresh recommended the train to business people and those always on their laptops as it provides the perfect opportunity to sit back, relax and push through deadlines before getting to the office.
Gareth Cliff, who was in the Maserati, was not very happy about “losing”. Cliff was impressed with the train and said the line should get busy from now on.
“It’s exciting that the line has opened and I think it will be very busy,” he said. - Pretoria News