Noarlunga Centre railway line, Adelaide

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Railways in Adelaide
	Belair
	Gawler Central
	Grange
	Noarlunga
	Outer Harbor
	Tonsley

Noarlunga Centre Railway Line is a rail route in Adelaide, South Australia, that travels from the Adelaide Railway Station to Noarlunga Centre in the city's south. The line was known as the Marino and Hallett Cove line when it finished at Hallett Cove. (Most trains terminated at Marino with only about a quarter going to Hallett Cove).

All signalling on the Noarlunga Centre line is controlled remotely from TransAdelaide’s computerised train control centre at Adelaide station. The line is double track for it's entire length.

Contents 1 History 2 Services 3 Seaford Extension 4 Electrification 5 Line guide 6 References

[edit] History

Before the extension of the line to Noarlunga Centre line in 1978, a line ran from Hallett Cove station on a different route through Reynella, Morphett Vale and Hackham to Willunga (southeast of Noarlunga). Known as the Willunga line, it was closed in 1969 and in September 1972 a track-removal train removed the tracks. For 6 years Noarlunga had no train service.

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] Services

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. Some stations are also serviced by trains starting from Brighton station and coming the Tonsley branch line on weekdays.^[1]

Most services are operated by 3000 class railcars at off-peak, weekends and at night. 2000 class railcars operate most Monday to Friday peak services.^[2]

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.

[edit] Seaford Extension

In late 2005, the State Government announced that as part of a greater infrastructure development, the Noarlunga line would be extended 5.5 km to the outer metropolitan suburb of Seaford, South Australia. Expected to cost AU$100 million, it will include bridges over the Onkaparinga River and two new stations at Seaford Meadows and Seaford itself.^[3] In 2007 the project was cancelled, after a feasibility study revealed it would cost $215 million. The current patronage could not justify that expenditure. At the same time they also announced they were committed in extending the line through to Aldinga in the belief that future patronage would justify the expense. The government will hold on to the corridor on land to Seaford and look to acquire land right through to Aldinga for the line.^[4]

[edit] Electrification

When delivering the 2008 South Australian State Budget, Treasurer Kevin Foley announced a $209.7 million dollar plan to electrify the Noarlunga Centre line as part of the Governments 10 year $2 billion plan to revitalise Adelaide's public transport network. This was in addition to the electrification of the Outer Harbor and Gawler rail corridors and the extentsion of the Glenelg Tramline. ^[5]

[edit] Line guide

Noarlunga Centre Line suburban service

Legend 0.0[6] Adelaide Change for Gawler, Grange & Outer Harbor Lines Adelaide Junction 2.0 Mile End 2.9 Mile End Goods (Closed) 3.8 Keswick Change for GSR Rail Terminal 5.0 Goodwood Change for Belair Line Glenelg Tram To Belair and Bridgewater Belair line 6.3 Clarence Park 7.1 Emerson 7.9 Edwardstown 9.1 Woodlands Park Tonsley Junction Tonsley line 10.2 Ascot Park 11.4 Marion 12.8 Oaklands 13.7 Warradale 14.6 Hove 16.0 Brighton 16.2 South Brighton 17.1 Seacliff 18.3 Marino 18.9 Marino Rocks 21.4 Hallett Cove Hallett Cove Junction Willunga line 22.9 Hallett Cove Beach 26.7 Lonsdale 28.9 Christie Downs 29.7 Original Christie Downs station 30.2 Noarlunga Centre

[edit] References