Gawler Central railway line

Gawler Central Line Railways in Adelaide - Trams in Adelaide
Railway Line Overview
Route
Starting Point	Adelaide
Major Stations	Mawson Lakes Salisbury Elizabeth Smithfield Gawler
Terminus	Gawler Central
Line Length	42.2 km
Track	Double Track to Gawler Single Track to Gawler Central
Frequency
Peak Frequency	Every 10-30 minutes
Weekday Frequency	Every 15-30 minutes
Weekend Frequency	Every 30 minutes
Night Frequency	Every 60 minutes
Rolling Stock
2000/2100 class	Yes
3000/3100 class	Yes
History
Opened	1858
Re-sleepered (Concrete)	September 2011- April 2012
Electrified	2013
Adelaide Railway Lines
Belair Line
Gawler Central Line
Glenelg Tram
Grange Line
Noarlunga Centre Line
Outer Harbor Line
Showground Central Line
Tonsley Line

The Gawler Central line is a suburban commuter railway line in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the only rail route in Adelaide to have no interchange with another line at any station except Adelaide.

History

The line was constructed in 1857-58 to connect the Adelaide with copper resources at Kapunda and Burra, as well as to provide passenger and freight services to the new town of Gawler. The construction of the standard gauge line to the west now carries the majority of freight, but there is still a regular "stone train" running to the quarries north of Angaston. Originally running through rural land, the line is now surrounded by suburbs and has developed into a suburban commuter line. The line is three tracks between Adelaide and Salisbury (two broad gauge and one standard gauge), two tracks between Salisbury and Gawler (both broad gauge), and a single broad gauge track between Gawler and Gawler Central. The line to Angaston continues on from Gawler Central; this is the only broad gauge freight line remaining in operation in South Australia.

When delivering the 2008 South Australian State Budget, Treasurer Kevin Foley announced a $116 million dollar plan to re-bed, re-sleeper and re-rail the Gawler line as part of the Government's 10 year $2 billion plan to revitalise Adelaide's public transport network. With Federal Government Support the line was planned to be electrified by 2013. This was in addition to plans for the electrification of the Outer Harbor and Noarlunga lines, and the extension of the Glenelg Tramline.

Route

The line runs from the Adelaide Railway Station north via the major suburbs of Mawson Lakes, Salisbury, Elizabeth and Smithfield to the satellite city (town) Gawler on the outer northern metropolitan fringe. The line is approx 42.2 kilometres in length and is currently the longest of the Adelaide suburban railway lines.

Like the rest of the Adelaide suburban passenger rail network, the line is broad gauge (1600 mm) for its entire length. The ARTC mainline (standard gauge) runs parallel to the route from the Gaol Triangle as far as Salisbury, then turns north west towards Virginia and Two Wells.

Services

All suburban passenger services are provided by TransAdelaide and the average service takes about 50 minutes to run the entire length.

On Monday, 28 April 2008, new timetables were introduced on the Gawler Central line in an effort by the South Australian Government and TransAdelaide to boost efficiency on the line. Shorter secondary services that terminated at Dry Creek and Salisbury were withdrawn, new limited express services introduced, and a new 'Hi-Frequency' station policy adopted.

Under this policy, "Hi-Frequency" stations have services every 15 minutes during off-peak and peak times, while all other stations receive 30 minute intervals during both periods. This is in addition to several peak hour 'express' services that stop at only major stations such as Mawson Interchange, Salisbury, Elizabeth, Smithfield and Gawler.

Weekend services operate with 30 minute frequency, and every second train runs express between Adelaide and Dry Creek. Evening/Night services are hourly and stop at all station with the exception of North Adelaide. Until April 2008, most services along the line were operated by 3000 class railcars. However with the introduction of the new timetable, 2000 class railcars ("Jumbos") are now more frequent, especially during peak hour.

All services either start or terminate their journey at Gawler or Gawler Central stations.

Freight

Freight is still a major factor along this transport corridor, with the ARTC mainline running parallel from near the Adelaide Station to Salisbury. This line is standard gauge and does not affect the operation of the suburban lines. Pacific National, Specialised Container Transport, and Great Southern Railway are some of the major operators, with the latter operating the Indian Pacific and The Ghan passenger trains along this section.

Broad gauge freight can also be seen along the line, a rare thing in today's South Australia. Genesee and Wyoming Australia operate the 'Stonie' along the suburban tracks from Penrice in the Barossa Valley and grain trains from Roseworthy to the Rosewater Loop (Dry Creek-Port Adelaide line), however no freight trains have been seen along the route to Roseworthy since 2007.

Rail Car Depot Relocation project

The RCDR project was a South Australian Government infrastructure project to relocate the railcar depot facilities from the north side of the west end of North Terrace in the Adelaide city centre, to make way for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. Railcar maintenance, washing, stabling and refuelling facilities from North Terrace were relocated to alternative sites along the rail network.

• Dry Creek - has become the major maintenance and re-fuelling facility plus stabling capacity for at least 70 railcars with scope for expansion in the future.
• Lonsdale, South Australia - has been expanded to provide stabling for up to 30 railcars with scope for future expansion.

These facilities were designed to cater for both diesel and electric railcars and allow for conversion to standard gauge track. They have been designed to ensure capacity for future expansion.

The proposal dated 25 November 2008 involves a Dry Creek Railcar Depot covering an area of approximately 12 hectares, with a perimeter boundary of 3,500 metres and containing approximately 10 kilometres of rail track.

Line guide

North Line suburban service
Legend
Gauge and interchange key  Broad gauge Standard gauge TransAdelaide train transfer Torrens Transit/Southlink bus transfer TransAdelaide tram
To Penrice (GWA) Murray Street 42.2km Gawler Central Bridge Street Howard Street Victoria Street 41.4km Gawler Oval South Para River Gawler Junction to Roseworthy (GWA) Overway Bridge Road 39.8km Gawler(Hi-frequency) Gawler Depot 39.3km Gawler Racecourse(Race days only) May Road Para Road 38.3km Evanston Gawler Bypass Road Clark Road 37.4km Tambelin(Hi-frequency) 34.1km Kudla Dalkeith Road 32.2km Munno Para 440 443 Curtis Road Anderson Walk 30.2km Smithfield Interchange(Hi-frequency) Bus transfers Munitions Store 28.3km Broadmeadows Womma Road 27.3km Womma Winterslow Road 25.8km Elizabeth Interchange(Hi-frequency) Bus transfers 24.0km Elizabeth South G.M.H Junction to G.M.H. Elizabeth Private Road 21.5km NurluttaDown platform Commercial Road 21.5km NurluttaUp platform Penfield line To Bowmans and Port Augusta Salisbury Highway 20.2km Salisbury Interchange(Hi-frequency) Park Terrace 18.6km Chidda Kings Road 17.7km Parafield(Hi-frequency) 16.6km Parafield Gardens 15.5km Greenfields Elder Smith Road 14.3km Mawson Lakes Interchnage(Hi-frequency) Port Wakefield Road To future Dry Creek Railcar Depot on former Northfield line 10.6km Dry Creek To Port Adelaide Cormack Road Grand Junction Road 8.7km Grand Junction 7.7km Kilburn Pacific National Freight Terminal 6.6km Islington Works Regency Road 6.0km Islington(Hi-frequency) 100 Pym Street 4.9km Dudley Park Belford Avenue 3.6km Ovingham Torrens Road Hawker Street Park Terrace 2.5km North Adelaide(Peak-hours only) Torrens Junction to Port Adelaide and Grange River Torrens To Melbourne Adelaide Junction to Noarlunga, Tonsley and Belair 0.4km City West Morphett Street 0.0km Adelaide Glenelg Tram

• 

  Gawler Station. One of two terminus stations in the Town of Gawler

• 

  Elizabeth Interchange

• 

  Salisbury Interchange, one of the 3 busiest station on the entire network

• 

  Mawson Interchange station, opened in 2005