Friends of the Rail Forum

Inside Heathrow’s ‘immense’ secret railway station

There were rumours of a "secret" railway station built under Johannesburg's O R Tambo airport in the old days when it was still Jam Smuts airport, long before the new Gautrain station was built. Any information from anyone?

Indeed there is a bare-bones railway station built into the basement under the "international" terminal at ORT. Originally intended to serve an airport loop line taken off the Germiston to Pretoria line, the project never happened and the approach tunnels and tracks were never installed. Repurposing this facility was examined as a possibility during the planning of the Gautrain to ORT but was discarded due to the cost of the approach tunnelling that would be needed. A steep and sharply-curved viaduct to a dead-end station at the second floor level was built instead.