Adelaide–Darwin railway

Route map of the line

Adelaide-Darwin Railway

2975 Port of Darwin - East Arm Wharf 2973 Darwin (Berrimah) -- Darwin to Katherine -- 2958 Elizabeth River (500m) 2911 Darwin River 2891 Finniss River 2866 Adelaide River West Branch - 1 2865 Adelaide River West Branch - 2 2779 Union Reef Loop (iron ore) 2712 Edith River 2670 Katherine River 2667 Katherine -- Katherine to Alice Springs -- 2667 Katherine Sidings 2627 King River 2218 Newcastle Waters loop 2154 Muckaty triangle & spur 2024 Tennant Creek station, loop &sidings 1786 Illoquara loop Opened 2004 Opened 1980 1558 Alice Springs Yard / Abattoir 1557 Alice Springs - Heavitree - Former Central Australia Railway -- Alice Springs to border -- 1540 Bohning Cattle Yards /Roe Ck loop 1535 Mereenie siding & triangle 1474 Hugh River 1466 Hugh River loop, siding & spur 1413 Finke River (Larapinta) 1385 Impadna loop, siding & spur 1303 Kulgera yard 1303 Kulgera loop siding & yard 1289 Northern Territory South Australia border -- border to Manguri -- 1243 Marryat loop & siding 1213 Alberga River 1187 Chandler loop siding, triangle & spurs 1177 unnamed River 1131 Marla loop, siding & spur 1052 Cadney Park loop and siding 928 Manguri loop, platform, siding and triangle (42) Pre-ordered transport to Coober Pedy -- Manguri to Tarcoola -- 892 Rankin Dam loop siding and spur 864 Wirrida Iron ore circle 863 Wirrida loop, siding and spur 788 Carnes loop, siding and spur 777 Quarry 555 siding 729 Indian Pacific from Perth To Alice Springs (opened 1980) Existing lines 727 Indian Pacific to Perth 726 Tarcoola yard, sidings & triangle -- Tarcoola to Port Augusta -- 691 Ferguson loop 648 Kingoonya Loop, spur & platform 616 Kultanaby loop 565 Wirraminna loop 533 Burando loop and spurs 495 Pimba loop, siding and triangle 464 Wirrappa loop 432 McLeay loop 398 Bookaloo loop & spur 368 Hesso loop 337 Tent Hill loop 317 Whyalla railway line 316 Spencer Junction loop and yards 315 To Port Augusta workshops 314 Port Augusta 314 Pichi Richi Tourist Railway Former Alice Springs Line 307 Stirling North Leigh Creek to power station 293 Winninowie Loop 267 Mambray Creek loop 248 Port Germein loop & siding 223 To Port Pirie 222 Coonamia loop & halt 201 Crystal Brook Grain circle 200 Crystal Brook loop & Siding 199 Crystal Brook to Broken Hill (and Sydney) -- Crystal Brook to Adelaide -- 195 Rocky River loop 195 Rocky River 174 Redhill loop 147 Snowtown loop & grain spur 122 Nantawarra loop & siding 106 Wakefield River 103 Bowmans yard, loop & siding 79 Long Plains loop & siding 62 Mallala Grain circle,loop & siding 55 Light River 46 Two Wells loop & siding 40 Gawler River 33 Bolivar loop & siding 24 Little Para River 9-17 Various yards and Pelican Point freight line 6 Outer Harbor railway line to Outer Harbour 5 Karrawirra Parri (River Torrens) 2 To Adelaide Railway Station 0km Adelaide Parklands Terminal

The Adelaide–Darwin railway is a south-north transcontinental railway in Australia, between the cities of Adelaide, South Australia and Darwin, Northern Territory. Between 2000-2004 the line was extended from Alice Springs to Darwin as a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer back (BOOT) project by the AustralAsia Rail Corporation. This replaced the former narrow gauge line from Darwin to Larrimah and the narrow gauge/standard gauge Central Australia Railway from Port Augusta to Alice Springs which used a different route up to 200 km to the east.

The line sees the Great Southern Rail operated passenger train 'The Ghan' as well as goods trains operated by Genesee & Wyoming Australia.

History

See Central Australian Railway for details of history of the first route - the Adelaide-Darwin railway is a different gauge and route

The Northern Territory Act (Cth) of 1910^[1][2] required the building of a North-South railway although no date was specified. By 1967, Commonwealth Railways were looking at an alternative to the often flooded original route and the current Tarcoola route was suggested as one of three options although the route may be different to the current version.^[3]

The Northern section of the current line replaces the original narrow gauge North Australia Railway from Darwin to Birdum. The Central Australian Railway that operated from Alice Springs to Port Augusta in the south was up to 200 km to the east of the current line and only the short section from Alice Springs to Heavitree was repurposed.

Elizabeth River Bridge, 17 km South of Darwin

• 1980 (October): New line from Tarcoola (a siding on the Trans-Australian Railway) to Alice Springs opens^[4]

Adelaide to Tarcoola (South Australia)

The line runs from the Adelaide Parklands Terminal north to Tarcoola using existing infrastructure including parts of the Indian Pacific that runs from Sydney to Perth and was gauge standardised in 1970.^[5]

The former Central Australia Railway to Alice Springs commences from the current route at Port Augusta and a small southern section is now the Pichi Richi Tourist Railway

Tarcoola to Alice Springs (Northern Territory)

The section north of the Indian Pacific at Tarcoola to Alice Springs opened in 1980.^[6] The new route does not have the water requirements that the previous steam age route that necessitated the former route. Whilst the previous line to Alice Springs had many stations and halts, there are limited passing loops and halts.

Alice Springs to Darwin

In 2000, the AustralAsia Rail Corporation (a company owned by the Northern Territory and South Australian Governments) awarded the contract to build and operate the Adelaide to Darwin railway line as a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer back (BOOT) project to the Asia Pacific Transport Consortium. The Asia Pacific Transport Consortium contracted FreightLink to implement the project and to operate the railway.

It cost $1.2 billion to build.^[7]

The Australian Government contributed $165 million from the Centenary of Federation Fund, the Northern Territory Government contributed $165 million and the South Australian Government contributed $150 million to the AustralAsia Rail Corporation for the construction of assets by Asia Pacific Transport Consortium and FreightLink that were later leased for a peppercorn rent to FreightLink in addition, the three Governments contributed about $26 million each, a total of $79 million in further funding to support the Asia Pacific Transport Consortium directly, by way of mezzanine debt financing (subordinated debt), equity, and contingent equity.

Construction

Adelaide–Darwin railway line in Darwin, Northern Territory

• July 2001: North: Construction of Alice Springs – Darwin line starts
• 17 September 2003: Darwin reached, the line from Adelaide to Darwin is complete
• 17 January 2004: First freight train reaches Darwin
• 4 February 2004: First passenger train reaches Darwin from Adelaide, travelling 2970 km in 47 hours.^[8]

Bankruptcy and sale

The Freightlink board, shareholders and lenders on 19 May 2008 agreed to sell its ownership of the Adelaide to Darwin rail link after failing to make a profit since the railway line commenced operation.^[9][10] Then on 6 November 2008 Freightlink went into voluntary administration after failing to reach agreement with creditors on the terms of a sale of the business.^[11] Genesee & Wyoming agreed to purchase the assets of FreightLink on 10 June 2010 for $334 million,^[7] and the sale meant that the 50-year lease on the Adelaide–Darwin railway was transferred to Genesee & Wyoming Australia.^[12]

Infrastructure

The line from Tarcoola to Alice Springs is owned by the Australian Rail Track Corporation and leased on a long term basis to Gennesee and Wyoming. The line from Alice Springs to Darwin is owned by Gennesee and Wyoming, and will transfer to the state and federal governments at the end of the contract term.

The line consists of:

• 1420 km
• 6 major bridges crossing the Katherine, Elizabeth, Adelaide, Cullen, Fergusson and Edith rivers^[13]
• 87 minor bridges
• 1,500 culverts^[14]
• 145,000 tonnes of rail^[14]
• 2.8 million tonnes of ballast
• 2 million sleepers
• 8 million sleeper fastenings

Services

Freight services operate on the line in addition to The Ghan passenger service, which is operated by Great Southern Rail. Genesee & Wyoming Australia is the main freight operator. The line has facilitated bulk commodity exports from iron ore and copper mines in central Australia, including Oz Minerals' Prominent Hill copper mine.^[15] Following a derailment event in December 2011,^[16] Oz Minerals has elected to use the line to export to the south via Port Adelaide,^[17] rather than their previous outport, Darwin.

Dry bulk exports from Darwin's port (serviced by rail) exceeded 3 million tonnes for the first time in financial year 2010-2011 and comprised iron ore, manganese and copper concentrate.^[18]

Stations

The original narrow gauge North Australia Railway served, indeed often created, the towns at the stations along the way however the new standard gauge railway has stations at Tennant Creek and Katherine, plus passing loops at Illoquara and Newcastle Waters.^[19]

See also

• North Australia Railway
• Central Australia Railway
• Pichi Richi Railway

References

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adelaide-Darwin Railway.

• AustralAsia Railway Corporation
• History of the Adelaide-Darwin Railway
• Tarcoola To Alice Springs Railway Act 1974

• Crossing Loops T-AS
• Crossing Loops AS-D