The South Africa airport guide
The Gautrain, and the airports that have no train
Photo: Number 10, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
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One South African airport has a train. Exactly one. If you are flying into O. R. Tambo and staying in Sandton, Rosebank or Pretoria, the Gautrain removes the single worst variable in a Johannesburg arrival, which is the motorway at the wrong time of day. If you are landing anywhere else in the country, there is no rail option at all, and knowing that before you book changes what you arrange.
At a glance
- Airports with rail
- 1 of 22
- Airport to Sandton
- About 15 minutes
- Peak frequency
- Every ~12 minutes
The driver's cab
Photo: Number 10, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Where the airport line goes
The Gautrain station sits inside the O. R. Tambo terminal complex — you walk to it, you do not take a bus to it. From there the airport service runs to Sandton in about fifteen minutes, calling at Rhodesfield and Marlboro on the way.
Sandton is the hinge of the network. From there the main north–south line continues to Rosebank and Park Station in the Johannesburg CBD in one direction, and to Midrand, Centurion, Pretoria and Hatfield in the other. Marlboro is the interchange if you are travelling between the airport branch and the northern line without going through Sandton.
| From O. R. Tambo to | Route | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Rhodesfield | Direct, first stop | A few minutes |
| Sandton | Direct | About 15 minutes |
| Rosebank | Change at Sandton | A stop beyond Sandton |
| Park Station (CBD) | Change at Sandton | Two stops beyond Sandton |
| Pretoria / Hatfield | Change at Marlboro or Sandton | The far end of the northern line |
Frequency, and the hours that matter
Trains run roughly every twelve minutes in the morning and evening peaks and every twenty to thirty minutes off-peak. For an airport that is more than frequent enough: you do not plan around a timetable, you walk down and wait.
What does matter is that the airport service does not run through the night. A long-haul arrival landing at five in the morning — which is when most of them land at O. R. Tambo — may be ahead of the first train, and a late evening departure from the city may be behind the last one. This is the single most common reason a traveller who planned on the train ends up in a taxi.
Check the first and last airport train against your own flight time on the Gautrain site before you rely on it. Operating hours are adjusted from time to time, and the gap between the last train and a midnight arrival is a problem best discovered at home.
The card, and why the airport leg costs more
You cannot pay with a bank card at the gate. The Gautrain runs on its own stored-value card, the Gautrain gold card, bought and loaded at a station — including the one inside the airport. Buy it on arrival, load enough for the journey, and keep it: it works across the trains, the feeder buses and the station car parks.
The airport leg is priced at a premium over the rest of the network. A trip between two city stations and a trip of similar length to or from the airport are not charged the same, which surprises people who have used the system before as commuters.
We do not publish Gautrain fares on this site. The figures circulating on travel blogs and forums are years out of date, and our editorial policy forbids publishing a price we cannot verify at source on a date we can name. Fares are on the Gautrain website, and that is where you should read them.
The feeder buses
The train is only half the system. Gautrain also runs feeder buses from its stations into the surrounding suburbs, on fixed routes, paid for with the same gold card. For a hotel that is near Sandton or Rosebank but not walking distance from the station, the bus is often the missing piece that makes the train worth taking at all.
Routes and timetables vary by station and they do not cover everywhere. Look up the specific route for your destination before deciding the train will get you all the way.
A station at dusk
Photo: Henry1500, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Every other South African airport has no train
This is worth stating bluntly, because the assumption that a big airport has a rail link is reasonable everywhere else and wrong here. Cape Town International has no rail connection. Neither does King Shaka, which is thirty-five kilometres north of Durban. Neither does George, Gqeberha, East London, Bloemfontein, Kimberley or Upington.
At all of them the choice is a metered taxi from the official rank, an e-hailing app from the designated pick-up bay, a hotel shuttle, or a hire car. Which one is right depends on the time of day, the number of bags and where you are going — that is covered in our guide to airport transfers.
Common questions
Is there a train from O. R. Tambo to Sandton?
Yes. The Gautrain runs from a station inside the airport terminal complex to Sandton in about fifteen minutes, calling at Rhodesfield and Marlboro. It is the only airport rail link in South Africa.
Does the Gautrain go to Cape Town airport?
No. The Gautrain operates only in Gauteng province, and Cape Town International has no rail link of any kind. From Cape Town airport you take a metered taxi from the official rank, an e-hailing car from the signed pick-up bay, a shuttle or a hire car.
How often does the Gautrain run?
Roughly every twelve minutes in the peaks and every twenty to thirty minutes off-peak. The airport service does not run all night, so check the first and last train against your flight.
Can I pay for the Gautrain with a bank card?
Not at the gate. You need a Gautrain gold card, bought and loaded at a station, including the station inside O. R. Tambo. The same card works on the feeder buses and in the station car parks.
How much does the Gautrain cost from the airport?
We do not publish the fare here. Airport transfer prices are among the fastest-rotting information in travel, and the figures repeated on blogs are often years old. The current fare is on the Gautrain website, and the airport leg is priced above an equivalent journey between city stations.