Grootrain is being introduced as the first and the only High Speed Passenger Rail Transport Solution in Africa to connect over 38 different nations in Sub-Saharan Africa and the North East. "Our goal is to bridge the wide gap currently existing between transport service delivery and its affordability and to do it in grand style." States Simon Kapenda, Founder of Grootrain and Windhoek, Namibia-based Groot Management Systems (Pty) Ltd.

Grootrain seeks to effectively address such crucial questions like the present high rate of unemployment through effective direct and indirect job creation, making over 20 million Africans and people in Africa more self-reliant when Grootrain goes fully operational.

Grootrain targets to serve each friendly Economic Bloc on the Continent from the first leg to link Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) from South Africa up to Nigeria and connect the 15 member nations of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) through the in-between connected Countries, connecting nine Nations in the following order:

South Africa to Namibia, Namibia to Angola, Angola to Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), DR Congo to Congo Brazzaville, Congo Brazzaville to Gabon, Gabon to Equatorial Guinea (Bata), Equatorial Guinea to Cameroun (Douala), and Cameroun to Nigeria.

The second leg will connect; Nigeria to Benin Republic, Benin Republic to Togo, Togo to Ghana to link up the entire 15 Nations of the West African Economic Bloc (ECOWAS).

The next connection targets the selected countries in the Central African Region; Nigeria to Cameroun (Bamenda), Cameroun to Central African Republic (Bangui), Central African Republic to DR Congo Republic (Kisangani), DR Congo to South Sudan (Juba), and to South Sudan.

And the next will connect the Eastern and North Eastern Countries will be connected to finally link South Africa, Ethiopia to Kenya, Kenya to Uganda, Uganda to Rwanda, Rwanda to Tanzania, Tanzania to Mozambique, Mozambique to Malawi, Malawi to Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe to Botswana, Botswana to South Africa (Pretoria), Pretoria to Swaziland, Swaziland to Lesotho, and Lesotho to South Africa (Cape Town).

The final link targets the North Eastern Bloc, connecting Ethiopia to Egypt. The Ethiopia/Egypt link will provide the Africa/Europe gateway to the North to link up with the first and nearest High Speed Rail System.

When compared with Grootrain's projected from US$55 to US$100 for the same service, this is huge saving and creates a ripple effect in terms of choice and pocket friendliness. This alone is a strong key factor to compete meaningfully against air and other transport operations in Africa.

"Our projected fares are so pocket friendly such that this makes it possible and easy for people to live Gambia and work in work in Nigeria on a daily basis. Students can afford to live in Ghana and go to school daily in Namibia or South Africa," explains excited and confident Julius T. Gbayange, the CEO of Grootrain.

According to the prefeasibility of Grootrain, when fully operational, Grootrain will effectively serve more than 20 million passengers daily and over 600 million monthly.

For the first two connected points linking South Africa and Namibia in the SADC Bloc, at the lowest fare of US$4 per passenger, an estimated number of 200,000 passengers are expected to be served daily comprising regular travelers, business persons and school population.

As the world's largest High Speed Passenger Rail Transport Infrastructure, with an estimated development and construction costs of about US$3 trillion, Grootrain is projected to a systematic implementation with the first phase going into full operation in 15 years. Its financing is being structured based on project financing through equity and debt financing from international developing agencies, selected participating African governments, and international commercial banks.

In the first 12 months of operation, Grootrain expects to serve 72 million paying passengers. Estimated at the lowest fare of US$4 per passenger per one-way local route, Grootrain is expected to generate the sum of about US$288 million in one year of not-so-busy operation.

This is an extremely low projection as realistic figures are far higher in terms of passenger service. This is taken from the baseline calculation to estimate the overall viability of Grootrain in terms of financial gain, which can be openly seen as profitable and self-sustainable even at this lowest projection.

Grootrain, as the world's largest High Speed Train Infrastructure ever undertaken with a provable capability to serve over 600 million paying passengers every single month will realistically generate US$7,200 million monthly projected at an average of just US$12 ticket per every passenger. That comes to US$86.4 billion in just one business year.

For the implementation, Groot Systems has appointed some of the world's best Europe based engineering companies for the Grootrain's technical and engineering planning and design.

About Groot Systems

Groot Systems is focusing on developing innovative advanced industrial ecosystems that sustain economies. For more info, visit www.grootgroup.com.