Adelaide–Port Augusta railway line
Overview
Owner	Australian Rail Track Corporation
Termini	Adelaide Port Augusta
Continues from	Adelaide-Wolseley line
Continues as	Trans-Australian Railway
Service
Services	The Ghan Indian Pacific
Operator(s)	Freight: Aurizon Pacific National SCT Logistics Bowmans Rail Passenger: Journey Beyond
Technical
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Old gauge	1600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Route map km toPerth &Darwin Whyalla line 95.0 Spencer Junction loop &Aurizon Yard 92.0 Port Augusta Northern Power Station (Marree line) Marree line Pichi Richi Railway 85.4 Stirling North 71.5 Winninowie loop 45.0 Mambray Creek loop 25.5 Port Germein loop to Port Pirie Wharf Aurizon Port Pirie Yard 0.0 220.1 Coonamia datum point, eastPort Pirie Crystal Brook Grain Terminal Crystal Brook loop toSydney via Broken Hill 193.2 Rocky River loop 172.8 Redhill loop Brinkworth line closed 1990 146.1 Snowtown loop Snowtown Grain Terminal Kadina line closed 1993 120.5 Nantawarra loop 101.5 Bowmans Rail Terminal 77.3 Long Plains loop 61.7 Mallala loop Mallala Grain Terminal 44.8 Two Wells loop 31.5 Bolivar loop SCT Penfield Terminal Gawler line Salisbury 15.19 AurizonDry Creek North Yard 8.1 Aurizon Dry Creek South Yard & loop toPelican Point Private freight sidings 7.8 Adelaide Freight Terminal Islington Railway Workshops Outer Harbor &Grange lines Adelaide 0.0 3.4 Mile End loop, datum point Adelaide Parklands Terminal Belair &Seaford lines toMelbourne broad gauge standard gauge 3 ft 6 in narrow gauge dual gauge [1] This diagram: view talk edit

TheAdelaide–Port Augusta railway line is the main route for northbound rail traffic out ofAdelaide,South Australia. The line, 315 kilometres (196 miles) long, is part of theAdelaide–Darwin rail corridor and theSydney–Perth rail corridor. Before the route was converted to1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge in 1982, the two cities were connected by1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge and1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge (until 1937); and broad and standard gauge (subsequently).

One Rail Australia,Pacific National andSCT Logistics operate freight services on the line; the sole passenger service isJourney Beyond'sexperiential tourism trainsThe Ghan andIndian Pacific.

SCT Logistics'Penfieldintermodal terminal is connected to a siding south of theNorthern Expressway and the Bolivar crossing loop.^[2]

The government-ownedSouth Australian Railways started to build thebroad-gaugeSalisbury–Long Plains line as a branch off theMain North line in 1915, completing it in April 1917.^[3] The line was extended from Long Plains toRedhill from 1917 to 1925,^[4] and again from Redhill toPort Pirie in 1937. In the latter year, theCommonwealth Railways extended its standard gaugeTrans-Australian Railway line fromPort Augusta south to Port Pirie.^[5]

In 1980, theFederal andState Governments entered an agreement to convert the line fromAdelaide to standard gauge, albeit altered to meet the Trans-Australian Railway atCrystal Brook.^[6] This allowedAdelaide to become the last mainland state capital to join the standard gauge network. The line opened in 1982. It runs on the western side of the same corridor as theGawler railway line from north ofSalisbury railway station to the triangle nearAdelaide Gaol, and continues on the western side of the metropolitan broad gauge tracks toAdelaide Parklands Terminal. The new line allowedAustralian National to operateThe Ghan,Indian Pacific andTrans-Australian through to Adelaide without passengers having to change trains. In July 1998, it became part of theAustralian Rail Track Corporation network.

Until late 2017, this meant that the standard gauge trains had to cross theOuter Harbor railway line at-grade at Torrens Junction, north of theRiver Torrens. In 2017, this conflict was removed by lowering the suburban Outer Harbor line into a trench so it could pass under the standard gauge line. This would ease timetable and operational conflicts on both services.^[7]

The maximum length of trains on this line is 1.8 kilometres, and almost allcrossing 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.

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

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

The Bolivar crossing loop is 1800 metres long, having been lengthened from 1200 metres in 2012, after the Taylors Road level crossing at the southern end was replaced by an overpass of theNorthern Expressway.^[8] As a result, the overpass marks the approximate mid-point of the loop.^{[note 1]}

In 2007, it was proposed that an Intermodal Rail/Road facility be built in theEdinburgh Parks area. Accordingly, an area of rural/agricultural land inPenfield was rezoned in 2008.^[10][11]

In the 2010s,SCT Logistics^[12] and another company started to develop anintermodal hub.^[13][14] 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 andRAAF Base Edinburgh, in 2011–2012.^{[needs update]}

The next crossing loop, of length 1,817m, is atTwo Wells - the loop is between Gawler Rd and Temby Rd.

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

Crystal Brook includes thetriangle junction with the main line to Broken Hill and Sydney. Then there is a 968m crossing loop and siding with provision to load grain at the silos in the town. The tracks converge to single track to cross a bridge over theCrystal Brook, then split into double track for the 20 km toCoonamia. The western track is for northbound travel and the eastern track for southbound, except that there is aballoon loop for loading grain from theAWB silos which is accessed by proceeding a short distance north on the eastern track.^{[15]: 62–66}

Coonamia "station" – in the past aprovisional stopping place^[16] but since the early 2010s comprising only a nameboard – is the site of the "0 km" datum point for routes to Port Augusta, Broken Hill and Adelaide.^[15]: 70 At this pointARTC train controllers in Adelaide (who oversee operations between Broken Hill and Coonamia, and Coonamia southwards) hand over to controllers in Port Augusta (who oversee the line to Port Augusta and points west); the sign remains so that train crews can identify the change-over point.^[17] The location has a crossing loop 1638 m (1791 yds) long on the south side of the double mainline from Crystal Brook.^{[15]: 66, 69}

A further 2.25 km (1.4 mi) west is a triangle junction where the double track ends and from which single tracks go west toPort Pirie Yard and north to Port Augusta.^{[15]: 67–68}

The 1960m crossing loop atPort Germein was supplemented by a 805m goodssiding in 2015, operated bySCT Logistics.^{[18][15]: 69, 70} A short stub siding also leads off the crossing loop.^[19]

• Lochiel railway line

• Railway lines in South Australia
• Railway lines opened in 1937
• 1937 establishments in Australia
• Standard-gauge railways in Australia

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