Kilkenny railway station, Adelaide

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TransAdelaide’s railcars nos. 3119 & 3120 in the industrial landscape at Kilkenny station with a Grange to Adelaide service on 19 May 2005

Kilkenny railway station is on the suburban rail route from Adelaide to Woodville, Grange and Outer Harbor. Kilkenny is 6.0km (3¾ miles) from Adelaide.

Monday to Friday, during off-peak times, trains depart every 30 minutes to and from the Grange line (each train makes a connection at Woodville for stations to Outer Harbor). Peak hour services run more frequently, whilst in the evenings and at weekends there is one train per hour to/from the Grange line and one per hour to/from the Outer Harbor line.

All passenger services are operated by TransAdelaide. There are now no freight trains through Kilkenny.

[edit] Adjacent stations

[edit] History

The railway line from Adelaide to Port Adelaide opened in April 1856, but for the first 25 years there was no station at Kilkenny. Kilkenny station was built when the single track Port Adelaide railway was duplicated in 1881.

A network of goods sidings was subsequently installed on both sides of the main line to serve various factories which were established in the vicinity.

By the early years of the 20th Century there were two signal cabins at Kilkenny – one at the Adelaide end of the station controlling access to sidings, the other at the Woodville end controlling the level crossing across David Terrace. In 1930 three-aspect colour light signalling was installed on this section of the Port line in an effort to accommodate the close headways necessary with the heavy traffic of that era.

Kilkenny was busy with both passengers and goods by virtue of the industrial activity in the area. However as heavy industries declined in the 1960’s and 70’s, so did traffic to and from the station. The goods sidings were closed in September 1977 and were subsequently removed, along with the signal cabin.

Even the freight trains, which passed through Kilkenny on regular trips between Mile End and Gillman Yard (at Port Adelaide) disappeared when the goods facilities at Mile End Yard closed in the early 1990’s. The interstate rail corridors from Adelaide have now been converted to standard gauge and freight operations transferred to the Adelaide Freight Terminal at Islington, and the Port Flat yard at Port Adelaide.

[edit] Reference

• Rails Through Swamp and Sand – A History of the Port Adelaide Railway. M. Thompson pub. Port Dock Station Railway Museum (1988) ISBN 0-9595073-6-1

[edit] See also

• List of Adelaide railway stations
• Railways in Adelaide

[edit] External links

• TransAdelaide
• Adelaide Metro