Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line

Adelaide – Port Augusta
Distances in km from Adelaide Parklands Terminal
Broad gauge
Standard gauge
to Bordertown & Melbourne
to Seaford & Belair
0.0 Adelaide Parklands Terminal
Mile End loop1,658 m

Adelaide

Torrens Junction
to Outer Harbor & Grange

Adelaide Freight Terminals

to Port Adelaide
13.0 Dry Creek South loop1,950 m
Salisbury

to Gawler
28.7 SCT Logistics intermodal
31.5 Bolivar loop1,801 m
44.8 Two Wells loop1,817 m
60.2 ABB Mallala Grain Terminal
61.7 Mallala loop1,900 m
77.3 Long Plains loop1,900 m
Balco Australia
101.5 Bowmans loop1,800 m
120.5 Nantawarra loop1,810 m
to Wallaroo (dual gauge)

ABB Snowtown Grain Terminal
146.0 Snowtown loop1,812m
172.8 Redhill loop1,980 m
193.1 Rocky River loop1,800m
Crystal Brook Triangle
to Broken Hill & Sydney
Crystal Brook loop988m
station
closed
AWB Crystal Brook Grain Terminal
Coonamia(Port Pirie)
GWA Port Pirie Yard
Port Germein loop1,800 m
Mambray Creek loop1,875 m
Winninowie loop1,800 m
to Leigh Creek
to Northern Power Station
Port Augusta
to Perth, Darwin & Whyalla

In 1937, the South Australian Railways extended its broad gauge line north from Redhill to Port Pirie. In the same year, the Commonwealth Railways extended its standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway line from Port Augusta south to Port Pirie.[1]

In 1980, the Federal and State Governments entered an agreement to convert the line from Adelaide to standard gauge, albeit altered to meet the Trans-Australian Railway at Crystal Brook.[2] This allowed Adelaide to become the last state capital to join the standard gauge network. The line opened in 1982.

It allowed Australian National to operate The Ghan, Indian Pacific and Trans-Australian through to Adelaide without passengers having to change trains. In July 1998, the line became part of the Australian Rail Track Corporation network.

Aurizon, Genesee & Wyoming Australia, Great Southern Rail, Pacific National and SCT Logistics operate services via the line.

SCT Logistics' Penfield intermodal terminal is connected to a siding south of the Northern Expressway and the Bolivar crossing loop.[3]

Crossing loops

The maximum length of trains on this line is 1.8 kilometres, and almost all crossing loops are of this length. East of Mile End the maximum train length is 1.5 kilometres, though this is starting to be increased to 1.8 kilometres also.

Mile End

The crossing loop at the Adelaide Parklands Terminal at Mile End is of length 1,658m.

Dry Creek

The first crossing loop north of Adelaide, of length 1,950m, is south of Dry Creek.

Bolivar

The original Bolivar crossing loop is located about 30 km by rail from Mile End, between Taylors Road, (now the western end of the Northern Expressway), and King Road, both in Virginia. (The King Road gated level crossing actually crossed two tracks.)[4][5] As Virginia pre-existed the original building of the line, it is unclear why the crossing loop was named "Bolivar" - Bolivar is several kilometres from Virginia; there is no local passenger train service on this line, and long distance passenger trains do not stop.

Australian Rail Track Corporation has a file dated 2004 with a diagram of Bolivar loop.[6]

In 2012, after replacement of the Taylors Road level crossing with an overbridge, the Bolivar crossing loop was extended from 1200m to the standard 1800m.[7]

Penfield intermodal hub

In 2007, it was proposed that an Intermodal Rail/Road facility be built in the Edinburgh Parks area. Accordingly, an area of rural/agricultural land in Penfield was rezoned in 2008.[8][9]

In the 2010s, SCT Logistics[10] and another company started to develop an intermodal hub.[11][12] The new facilities and trackwork commenced construction on the north-east side of the line, south of the Northern Expressway and north of Heaslip Road and RAAF Base Edinburgh, in 2011/2012.

Two Wells

The next crossing loop, of length 1,817m, is at Two Wells - the loop is between Gawler Rd and Tenby Rd.

Others

There are about a dozen other crossing loops north of Two Wells - refer to the infobox to the right.

References

  1. Rail Standardisation National Railway Museum
  2. Rail Agreement (Adelaide to Crystal Brook Railway) Act 1980 Government of Australia
  3. "DRY CRK(ex) to (CRYSTAL BRK(ex) Yard Plans & Component Identification" (PDF). Australian Rail Track Corporation. July 2011. TA400010. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  4. Curve Details: Dry Creek North to Crystal Brook, pg.1, in Curve Details: Mile End to Crystal Brook, ARTC, Jun 2006
  5. Protected Level Crossings, Appendix V, ARTC Document No. TA02, Issue 2.2, 30 June 2004, pg.2
  6. Interstate Network Overview, Appendix II, ARTC Document No. TA02, Issue 2.2, 20 June 2004, pg.7
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
  8. Penfield intermodal rail freight facility amendment, Development Plan Amendment (DPA), Minister for Urban Development and Planning, www.sa.gov.au
    Written submissions on the DPA were received for a period of eight weeks, from Thursday 14 February 2008 to Thursday 10 April 2008. The Penfield Intermodal Rail Freight Facility DPA was approved by the Minister for Urban Development and Planning on 7 August 2008.
  9. Community information sheet, Rail Freight Terminal at Penfield – rezoning for an Intermodal facility, Planning SA, February 2008, www.sa.gov.au
  10. http://www.sct.net.au/ SCT Logistics home page
  11. $30 Million rail freight terminal for South Australia, 4 February 2011, T&DC Pty Ltd, www.tndc.com.au
  12. Rail Freight Terminal for South Australia, Media Release from the City of Playford, 25 January 2011, www.playford.sa.gov.au
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