Noarlunga Centre Interchange
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Noarlunga Centre Interchange is the terminus of the Noarlunga Centre line, a part of the suburban railway system in Adelaide, South Australia.
Noarlunga Centre is 30.2 km (19 miles) by rail from Adelaide station, and is a major transportation hub for Adelaide’s southern metropolitan area. The station has a bus interchange directly alongside and is adjacent to a large commuter Park-and-Ride facility.
Noarlunga Centre is an important regional centre for shopping, recreation and various government services. The headquarters of the City of Onkaparinga are located here and other facilities within easy reach of the rail and bus stations include a large shopping centre, a hospital, a TAFE college, cinemas, and a swimming pool. Combined with its role as a transport interchange, these make Noarlunga Centre one of the busiest stations on the Adelaide suburban rail system.
Noarlunga Centre is one of the few railway stations on the TransAdelaide network with a staffed ticket office. It has also been designated a Safer Station with enhanced lighting, CCTV surveillance and security help phones provided.
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[edit] Rail and bus services
All rail services are provided by TransAdelaide using diesel railcars. There are no freight trains to Noarlunga Centre.
Trains to and from Adelaide operate every 30 minutes at off-peak times on Monday to Friday, and through the day on Saturday and Sunday. Before 11am and after 2pm on weekdays, the frequency is increased to one train every 15 minutes. In the evening, services run every hour.
In peak hours, there are ten trains departing to Adelaide between 7am and 9am. Ten services leave Adelaide for Noarlunga Centre between 4pm and 6pm. Two trains in each direction are non-stop expresses, used by the significant number of city workers who either park their vehicle or transfer from buses at Noarlunga Centre.
Local buses from Noarlunga Centre Interchange use the Adelaide Metro integrated ticketing system and are scheduled to connect with trains to and from Adelaide. Buses from Noarlunga Centre provide links to many of the southern suburbs and beaches, such as Port Noarlunga, Seaford, Moana, Aldinga Beach, and Sellicks Beach. Current details are available from Adelaide Metro.
Bus services are currently operated by SouthLink under contract to the S.A. Government’s Office of Public Transport.
[edit] Rail operations
The original station at Noarlunga Centre was built with an island platform between the two rail tracks and the ticket office on the bridge above. Passengers accessed the platforms via escalators or a ramp and typically had a long walk between trains and buses.
In recent years a third platform face has been constructed alongside the western track, and the TransAdelaide ticket office has been relocated onto the platform level. The project was completed in March 2004, since when most trains have used this western track giving passengers safer and more direct access to connecting buses.
There are no storage facilities for trains at Noarlunga Centre. However a number of the extra railcars needed for peak-hour services on the line are stabled overnight in secure sidings at Port Stanvac, around 4 km (2½ miles) north and just beyond Lonsdale station.
All signalling at Noarlunga Centre is controlled remotely from TransAdelaide’s computerised train control centre at Adelaide station.
[edit] History
Prior to the railway line being extended in the mid-1970s, most local trains from Adelaide had terminated at either Marino, or at Hallett Cove, a station on the closed line to Willunga.
The South Australian Railways and its successor, the State Transport Authority (STA), extended the railway southwards in stages from Hallett Cove to cater for increasing residential development in the southern area. Opening dates for passenger services were:-
- To Hallett Cove Beach on 30 June 1974.
- To Christie Downs on 25 January 1976. This was a temporary terminus just north of Beach Road and adjacent to Hyacinth Crescent, Christie Downs. It was a different location to today’s Christie Downs station, which opened later, in November 1981.
- To Noarlunga Centre station on 2 April 1978.
[edit] Seaford Extension
Since the 1990s, there has been significant residential development at Seaford, south of Noarlunga Centre. In recent years there have been several proposals to extend the rail line southwards from Noarlunga Interchange to serve the Seaford district. A corridor of land has been reserved, in which new building and development is not allowed.
Most recently, in January 2006 (just prior to a state election in March 2006) the South Australian Minister for Infrastructure announced a new study into the feasibility of extending the line 5.5 km to Seaford. The line would cross the Onkaparinga River via a new bridge, with stations at Seaford Meadows and Seaford.
The Seaford Extension is a key project in South Australia's Strategic Plan, which aims to double the use of public transport to 10 percent of weekday travel by 2018. If the AU$100 million project is eventually approved by the state government, construction is likely to commence between 2010 and 2015.
[edit] Adjacent stations
| Preceding station (inbound) |
TransAdelaide network | Following station (outbound) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christie Downs | Noarlunga Line | terminus | ||
