RAIL commuters travelling between Pretoria and Johannesburg have received another boost with a second Gauteng Express.

RAIL commuters travelling between Pretoria and Johannesburg have received another boost with a second Gauteng Express.

Yesterday, Gauteng MEC for Public Transport Bheki Nkosi joined commuters as they departed from Pretoria on the speed train.

Nkosi was joined by management of Metrorail and Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa.

This is the second train between the two cities following the train's launch in May last year.

Commuters were ushered to their velvet seats and provided with hot coffee and the latest copy of Sowetan.

A ticket costs R30 a trip and R750 a month.

Commuters who work in places like Sandton and Rosebank are transported to their working place at no extra cost.

Some commuters opened up their laptops and immediately linked up to the Internet.

Nompumelelo Ndlovu, who works in Johannesburg, has been using the Business Express for a year. "The train eliminates the inconvenience of traffic and saves time and money."

It takes the Business Express one hour to travel from Pretoria to Johannesburg.

"We develop friendships because everyone has his or her favourite seats so we chat during the journey," Ndlovu said.

Metrorail's chief executive Tshepo Montana said though the train attracted an elite group "most of our passengers are ordinary workers earning between R3000 and R5000 a month."

"We are getting ready for both the Confederations Cup and 2010 Fifa World Cup."