Noarlunga Centre railway line

Frequency
Noarlunga Centre Line Railways in Adelaide - Trams in Adelaide

Railway Line Overview
Route
Starting Point	Adelaide
Major Stations	Goodwood Oaklands Brighton Hallett Cove Beach
Terminus	Noarlunga Centre
Line Length	30.2 km
Track	Quadruple Track to Keswick Double Track to Noarlunga Centre
Peak Frequency	Every 10-30 Mins
Weekday Frequency	Every 15-30 Mins
Weekend Frequency	Every 30 Mins
Night Frequency	Every 60 Mins
Rolling Stock
2000/2100 class	Yes
3000/3100 class	Yes
History
Opened	1913 (To Marino) 1974 (To Hallett Cove Beach) 1976 (To Christie Downs) 1978 (To Noarlunga Centre) 2013 (To Seaford) Under construction.
Re-sleepered (Concrete)	2009-2012
Electrified	2014

Adelaide Railway Lines
Belair Line
Gawler Central Line
Glenelg Tram
Grange Line
Noarlunga Centre Line
Outer Harbor Line
Showground Central Line
Tonsley Line

The Noarlunga Centre railway line is a suburban commuter line in the city of Adelaide, South Australia.

1 History
2 Route
3 Services
4 Seaford extension
- 4.1 Funding for the extension
5 Resleepering and electrification
6 Line guide
7 References

History

Before the extension of the line to Noarlunga Centre line in 1978, the Willunga line ran from Hallett Cove station on a different route through Reynella, Morphett Vale and Hackham to Willunga (southeast of Noarlunga). It closed in 1969 and in September 1972 a track-removal train removed the tracks. For six 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:

Hallett Cove Beach on 30 June 1974.
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 from today’s Christie Downs station, which opened in November 1981.
Noarlunga Centre on 2 April 1978.
Seaford, under construction, expected to be completed 2013.

Route

The line runs from the Adelaide Railway Station south west via the suburbs of Edwardstown, Oaklands Park and Marion to the coast at Brighton, where it turns south towards Noarlunga Centre in the southern suburbs. 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.

Like the rest of the Adelaide network, the line is broad gauge (1600mm). It is approximately 30.2 kilometres long and is the second longest of the Adelaide suburban railway lines. Signalling is controlled remotely from TransAdelaide’s computerised train control centre at Adelaide station. The line is double track.

The ARTC standard-gauge main line crosses this line just south of Goodwood station.

Services

Trains to and from Adelaide operate every 30 minutes off-peak 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, trains run every hour. Some stations are also serviced by trains from Brighton and from the Tonsley branch line on weekdays.^[1]

Most trainss are operated by 3000 class railcars off-peak, at weekends and at night. Single cars operate off-peak trains to Brighton, and all trains to Noarlunga Centre are at least two cars. 2000 class railcars (usually three-car sets) operate most Monday to Friday peak trains, sometimes on weekends, plus a few off-peak trains on weekdays.^[2]

A number of railcars needed for peak-hour services are stabled overnight in secure sidings at Port Stanvac, around 4 km (2½ miles) north and just beyond Lonsdale station.

There are no freight trains on the line, oil freight trains to/from Port Stanvac ceased operation during the 1990s

Seaford extension

Geotechnical work has started on a 5.5 km extension to the southern suburb of Seaford.^[3] This will include a viaduct over the Onkaparinga River, a railway station at Seaford Meadows and the Seaford Terminus next to the Seaford Shopping Centre on Lynton Terrace. Construction is expected to be started in mid 2010 and the extension completed by 2013.^[4]

Funding for the extension

The State Government announced in 2005 that the line would be extended. This was cancelled in 2007 after a study revealed that the extension could not be justified. The government announced that they would retain the corridor to Aldinga for a possible extension further south in the future.^[5] A feasibility study was commissioned by the government in 2008 in response to criticism that the extension was not included in the $2 billion public transport plan in the 2008 State Budget.^[6]

This extension was finally given approval after Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan announced a $291 million investment in the project as part of the 2009/10 Federal Budget.^[7]

Resleepering and electrification

When delivering the 2008 South Australian State Budget, Treasurer Kevin Foley announced a $209.7 million plan to electrify the line as part of the Government's 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 extension of the Glenelg Tramline.^[8]

In late 2009 Stage 1 of the Noarlunga line upgrade was completed. This involved upgrading the base layer, refurbishing/replacing rail and installing concrete sleepers between Brighton and Adelaide.^[9]

Stage 2 was announced to commence in early 2011 to continue the upgrade works between Noarlunga and Oaklands. This section of the track has been closed from 6 February 2011 for approximately 6 months, with substitute buses operating in lieu of the train. Most stations got a minor upgrade due to most stations' shelters has asbestos in them and they got new shelters. These stations were: Brighton, Seacliff, Marino, Marino Rocks and Lonsdale. ^[10]

Line guide

Noarlunga Centre Line suburban service

Legend

Broad gauge

Standard gauge

TransAdelaide commuter trains

TransAdelaide trams

GSR interstate trains

To Glenelg

0km

0:00

Adelaide Station

Morphett Street

City West

To Gawler, Grange and Port Adelaide

To Port Augusta

(ARTC)

West Terrace¹

Adelaide Depot

Port Road

To Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Glover Avenue

To Glenelg via Plympton

2.0km

0:03

Mile End

Sir Donald Bradman Drive

Mile End Goods

Adelaide Parklands Terminal

3.8km

0:07

Keswick

Anzac Highway

4.4km

0:08

Showground Central (Royal Show only)

Leeder Street

5.0km

0:09

Goodwood

Glenelg Tram

Victoria Street

To Belair

To Bordertown and Melbourne

East Avenue

6.3km

0:11

Clarence Park

7.1km

0:12

Emerson

Cross Road/South Road

7.9km