News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Trains

[PD2/20]

In all of this (showing how green I am on the subject), how much of the Gawler line has electrification poles up? also is it likely this line will be electrified in the near future? Does anyone know the costs yet to be incurred to electrify the line and what has yet to be done?

I know I should have a better idea after all this time on S-A. but somehow got lost as to the above info.
Thanking you all for your troubles.

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

Concrete poles erected N of Nurlutta towards Elizabeth Sth and Munno Para to Tambelin/Evanston. Steel gantries over north half of Adelaide Station yard. However proposed first phase of electrification is Adelaide/Dry Creek/Salisbury including substation at Kilburn/Dry Creek. Date now 2017/18. See http://dpti.sa.gov.au/infrastructure/RR ... awler_line. With a pole spacing of 50m for each track, the 300 masts installed cover about 7km of route.

Alex C

[skyliner]

Thanks mate - a good update for me to work on. At least it is not scrapped!

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

[ChillyPhilly]

Its this sort of thing that really illustrates how "hard" it is to satisfy community demands, first of all you have some locals saying "we want our train station back!" despite the fact that previous patronage was low and there is a regular bus service within a 10 minute walk......Now the station is nearly up and running and there is a privacy issue (fair enough) but also concerns about commuters parking in the local streets.
Are people really going to drive to Millswood to catch a train into the city? I don't think so...especially when they work out that only one out of two trains will stop there.
And to the issue of "bright station lights"...well its bright because it has to be safe and disability compliant....do the residents really want commuters to alight at a dimly lit station at night?
Maybe Adelaide Metro should encourage local residents to act as local "guardians" for the station when it opens, you know what I mean....."own the station".... the residents stare out of their windows day and night and know exactly who is using the station, which cars are "strangers" in the street....what time Mr smith got off the train last night........

More so I believe it illustrates a lack of community engagement during planning of the station upgrade and reopening.

[claybro]

I am at a bit of a loss as to why so much is being spent on the re-opening of Millswood station, or why it is being re-opened at all. There are no shops nearby, parking is very restricted, and the popultaion density in the area is low. Surely there are other priorities on the rail network.

[PeFe]

Millswood station is being re-opened on a 12 month trial basis only. If I were someone high up in the SA government I have blanket the area with pamphlets on the re-opening of the station saying "Use it or lose it! Its your choice!"

[Patrick_27]

Well, Claybro. I live in the area, so I'll try offer some insight. There is definitely a public transport consuming population in and around Millswood to demand it's re-opening. As for shops, well a lot of the shops directly nearby closed soon after the station closed in '95 but there is a large strip of shops located on nearby Goodwood Road. There is parking around and as I mentioned above, there is the opportunity to create more off-street parking.

There needed to be some investment made in reopening the station, perhaps not to the extent that was provided; but if the station does remain open beyond the 12 month mark, at-least they won't have to touch it anytime soon.

I personally would like to see the station upgrades be co-funded by the state government and local councils so that they happen quicker. Along the Belair line alone, the Mile End, Mitcham and Torrens Park stations are complete dumps.

[PeFe]

Mitcham station should be part of transit-orientated development. I am not suggesting building apartment blocks anywhere west of the station but rather along Belair Rd next to the shopping centre.
Mile End station should be closed, no one uses it apart from a few school kids, all it does is slow up the trains on those lines......
Torrens Pk......not sure about this one..would an upgrade increase patronage? The area surrounding it is pretty affluent, I don't see a large increase in train travelers unless the CBD car park tax is actually re-introduced....

[Patrick_27]

Mitcham station should be part of transit-orientated development. I am not suggesting building apartment blocks anywhere west of the station but rather along Belair Rd next to the shopping centre.
Mile End station should be closed, no one uses it apart from a few school kids, all it does is slow up the trains on those lines......
Torrens Pk......not sure about this one..would an upgrade increase patronage? The area surrounding it is pretty affluent, I don't see a large increase in train travelers unless the CBD car park tax is actually re-introduced....

Semi-agree with a transit-oriented development along the Belair line, but I think it would better suit the area surrounding Goodwood Station which for the most part is a dump (as a Black Forest resident myself, I think I am warranted to make such a comment). Mitcham has far too much pre-existing character to warrant such development; and along Belair Road is the Mitcham Council chambers.

Agree with you about Mile End, in-fact I'd like to see the station relocated, incorporate it into the new Royal Adelaide Hospital precinct. This would allow for direct access to the hospital from anywhere serviced by all metro lines and because the trains are still running slow along this area (whether they're departing or arriving) I don't see it having much of an impact on travel times, especially if the Mile End is closed.

On the fence with Torrens Park; I'm honestly surprised that it wasn't culled during the overhaul of the Belair line in 1996, if there were to be a station betweeen Mitcham and Lyndon, where Torrens Park is, is ideal. But it's far too close to Mitcham and it's an under-used dump. I'd see the logic in closing Torrens Park and re-opening Hawthorne Station.

[Norman]

I would say Mile End will be irrelevant once the CBD subway is established.

[muzzamo]

Semi-agree with a transit-oriented development along the Belair line, but I think it would better suit the area surrounding Goodwood Station which for the most part is a dump (as a Black Forest resident myself, I think I am warranted to make such a comment). Mitcham has far too much pre-existing character to warrant such development; and along Belair Road is the Mitcham Council chambers.

It is a huge missed opportunity that there is no ability to easily switch between tram and train at goodwood station. Such a connection would open up the south CBD and glenelg to noarlunga line passengers.

I've noticed that any upgrades to goodwood station have been minor facelifts at best. I'm hopeful that this is because DPTI has longer term plans for a major upgrade, including a tram/train interchange. However this is the kind of thing that would have been funded with the car park tax

[PeFe]

What about decommissioning Torrens Park and Lynton stations and building a "decent" station next to Springbank Rd?
And no to a train station by the new RAH, the tram will provide free transport up North Tce to the hospital.
The Adelaide train network really is a "commuter" network getting the maximum number of people into the CBD, "local" journeys should be made by other modes. I compare the operation of the Adelaide train network to the RER in Paris and the S-Bahn in Berlin
(yes I know its a stretch, but I am talking about "function", not passenger numbers or kilometres of track)
The Goodwood train tram interchange idea really is as dead as a dodo....the number of passengers who want to interchange would be quite small...and besides passengers who got off a Belair train would find themselves in a sardine-can-like tram stuffed with passengers going into the city, why not just stay on the train and get the tram from North Terrrace, it probably would only take a few minutes longer with a much more comfortable journey.

[metro]

On the Goodwood station thing: trams are crowded enough without adding rail passengers wanting to reach the Southern end of the CBD which they should already be able to do from the Showground station, buses run probably more frequently along that part of Anzac Hwy, Google Maps shows the following buses run through there: 167,168, 169, 202, 202F, 203, 203B, 203F, 208, 241, 245, 248, 248F, 251, 252, 262, 262F, 263, 265, 719, 721, 721F, 722, 722F, 723

I'd argue that the buses along Anzac Hwy could easily handle taking on rail passengers that wish to travel to the southern end of the city, just might need a better rail-bus interchange at that station, as well as much better signage and directions. The Showgrounds station already has disabled access, as do the bus stops, most buses are as well and should be 100% accessible in a few years time, at most a better bus interchange could be built for about $5m, in just a few months with no service disruptions. Contrast this with already overcrowded trams, Goodwood station is badly designed, the tram bridge is old and right on top of the Goodwood station, building a tram-train interchange would be a complex building project and could require over $50m and significant disruption to rail/tram services, if it was a success they'd likely have to double the capacity of each tram by joining two together, which means not only more trams have to be purchased, but all of the tram stops would need to be doubled in length as well, hence even greater cost. I think it's better to use what we've already got until the state can fund the construction of a city underground rail link, if Goodwood was such an important tram-train link then surely it would have been originally built with a tram stop above the station.

[Nathan]

Rather than an RAH stop, they just need a western entrance to the platforms at Adelaide Railway Station. Should have been done with the Convention Centre development. Maybe they can do one from the western side of the bridge, but it might be a bit too far.

[Aidan]

On the Goodwood station thing: trams are crowded enough without adding rail passengers wanting to reach the Southern end of the CBD which they should already be able to do from the Showground station, buses run probably more frequently along that part of Anzac Hwy, Google Maps shows the following buses run through there: 167,168, 169, 202, 202F, 203, 203B, 203F, 208, 241, 245, 248, 248F, 251, 252, 262, 262F, 263, 265, 719, 721, 721F, 722, 722F, 723

The biggest disadvantage of the new station is it's not as near the bus stop as the old Keswick station was. And those bus routes serve a completely different part of the southern half of the City than the trams.

I'd argue that the buses along Anzac Hwy could easily handle taking on rail passengers that wish to travel to the southern end of the city, just might need a better rail-bus interchange at that station, as well as much better signage and directions. The Showgrounds station already has disabled access, as do the bus stops, most buses are as well and should be 100% accessible in a few years time, at most a better bus interchange could be built for about $5m, in just a few months with no service disruptions. Contrast this with already overcrowded trams, Goodwood station is badly designed, the tram bridge is old and right on top of the Goodwood station, building a tram-train interchange would be a complex building project and could require over $50m and significant disruption to rail/tram services, if it was a success they'd likely have to double the capacity of each tram by joining two together, which means not only more trams have to be purchased, but all of the tram stops would need to be doubled in length as well, hence even greater cost.

That's something that might have to be done anyway eventually. Meanwhile, we have the option of increasing the tram service frequency — though money will still have to be spent grade separating the Marion Road level crossing.

I'm not so sure it would be so expensive. ISTM it could be done by bolting platforms onto the existing bridge and adding lifts and stairs, shortening the platforms at the south end. I'd rather have seen the station rebuilt first, but constructing the underpass has made that more difficult.

I think it's better to use what we've already got until the state can fund the construction of a city underground rail link, if Goodwood was such an important tram-train link then surely it would have been originally built with a tram stop above the station.

Interchange opportunities weren't considered as important when it was built as they are now. South Australian Railways and the Municipal Tramways Trust didn't have an integrated ticketting system.

[claybro]

The Goodwood /Millsowood station discussion highlights one of the biggest problems with Adelaide rail network. Most stations are not immdeiately adjacent to shopping/business/leisure destinations. Despite this, there are many stations spaced closely together as if it were a metro system, but the stations themselves are tucked away in back streets, not visible to potential commuters, lacking carparking /bus interchange potential and with a feeling of isolation and being unsafe, particularly at night. The Goodwood road shops are well served by the tram, but the frequency needs increasing. These inner suburban shopping strips would be better served by trams, leaving the heavy rail network to act as commuter lines and closing many of the smaller stations, redeveloping the larger ones to include bus interchanges therfore speeding up the system with fewer stops, but currently there appears to be no clear vision as to its best use.