Adelaide–Wolseley railway

The Adelaide-Wolseley railway is a standard gauge railway line in south eastern South Australia, Australia. Originally opened in the 1880's as a broad gauge link to connect Adelaide with Victoria and Melbourne, it was converted to Standard Gauge in 1995. Today it forms part of the Melbourne-Adelaide railway and serves as the principal interstate rail link between South Australia and Victoria.

Today the route sees mainly interstate freight traffic, as well as irregular intrastate grain freight services from the branch lines to Pinnaroo and Tookayerta. The Overland is the only scheduled passenger service to operate on the route in South Australia, and only calls at Murray Bridge and Bordertown stations. Major towns on the route include Murray Bridge, Tailem Bend, Keith and Bordertown.

Infrastructure

The line is standard gauge and single track throughout its entire length, with numerous long crossing loops. In suburban Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills the line runs parallel to the TransAdelaide broad gauge Belair line. The line is operated and managed by the Australian Rail Track Corporation.

Services

The main traffic on the line is Melbourne - Adelaide interstate freight, with trains operated by Australian Railroad Group, Pacific National and Specialised Container Transport. Grain services are also operated on an irregular basis by Genesee and Wyoming Australia from the branch lines to Pinnaroo and Tookayerta, which divert from the mainline at Tailem Bend.

The only passenger service is The Overland thrice weekly, operated by Great Southern Railway, between Adelaide and Melbourne. This train only stops at Murray Bridge and Bordertown stations upon request from booked passengers. All other intrastate passenger traffic was withdrawn from the South Australian network by Australian National during the 1980s. The final service, to Mount Gambier, was withdrawn in 1990.

Crossing loops

In 2010, a new 1500m crossing loop is proposed at Ambleside to divide the Belair to Mount Barker Junction section. ^[1]

Line guide

• = Broad Gauge (1600 mm, 5 ft 3 in).
• = Standard Gauge (1435 mm, 4 ft 8½ in).
• Station Name = Active Passenger platforms.

Notes