Went past the Park Terrace construction site today and they are obviously about to start driving piles and digging the trench next to the existing line; there was a lot of construction materials being moved onto the sites adjacent.

Also out of interest the Advertiser had an article yesterday stating that the government's next stage of the South Road project would be Regency Road to Pym Street, meaning that traffic will be able to travel from Gawler/the Barrossa to just beyond Grange Road completely traffic light free (sometime around 2021/2 but nevertheless it's on its way).

I think you will find that the railway lines at Bowden are going to be deviated through the section of land formerly used as factories and now all demolished, and alongside the sports ground that is across from it as they have a nice level area now to lay track onto there! As not only is this area had some rail delivered into it it sits in what was formerly the road behind the station platform now removed, if you have a look there. Also the Northline deviation into the Golf Course is coming along as well getting all nicely leveled off on Thursday as I went past.

Once both lines are deviated out of the way work should begin in earnest on digging out the trench at this location and keeping metro trains running for as long as possible without interruptions to services on both lines. There will have to be a closure though in the end to reconnect the new trackage to the old trackage but I think Adelaide Metro is keeping shutdowns on this project to a minimum though as even for a couple of days there is an outcry about shutdowns from some.

So the actual trench will be where the railway lines are now? I was wondering about that when I drove past.

Can I indulge the patience of those who know, I'm not feeling very energetic this morning, or maybe I am just naturally lazy, a question that might have been answered earlier. Is this work going to wipe out North Adelaide station?

I don,t come from that part of the world and I have only a brief experience with the place locations being mentioned but I have always enjoyed time at North Adelaide under the flight path with interesting trains rolling by, although a lot of that changed with the sale of the jumbos, (They were unique to Adelaide) and with out introducing a thread drift, were any of those saved?

Can I indulge the patience of those who know, I'm not feeling very energetic this morning, or maybe I am just naturally lazy, a question that might have been answered earlier. Is this work going to wipe out North Adelaide station?

I don,t come from that part of the world and I have only a brief experience with the place locations being mentioned but I have always enjoyed time at North Adelaide under the flight path with interesting trains rolling by, although a lot of that changed with the sale of the jumbos, (They were unique to Adelaide) and with out introducing a thread drift, were any of those saved?

Somehow I think not

https://www.facebook.com/RedHouseShopCafe/

Thanks for that .... but it is not on the side of tracks I have frequented, I need to go and check it out ..... so I can assume that there is no change planned there?

So the actual trench will be where the railway lines are now? I was wondering about that when I drove past.

From what it appears yes is the answer to that question. The only major change will be the swapping of the North and Outer Harbor lines over coming out of Adelaide yard as all the tracks going North both metro and ARTC will go over the top of the Outer Harbor line. So the bow type bridge will become Adelaide Metros North line bridge alongside the ARTC mainline, and the box girder one becomes the Outer Harbor line bridge. Platforms at Adelaide station will also be change as well to accommodate this track swapping at the new dive!

The only station that will not be alongside the tracks when finished is the old Bowden platform building which is a coffee shop or similar now. A completely new Bowden station both sides of the tracks will be built closer to Park Terrace down in the trench! North Adelaide is a long way away and should not be in the line of fire so to speak.

Two  2 car sets of Jumbo's have been saved one at the NRM at Port Adelaide and the other with Steamranger.

Check out this video of what is actually going to be done at Bowden and in the parklands as well.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MCVeF_iCm0

Thank you David Peters your answer is appreciated.

There was a lot of work at the Grange Rd/Port Road area of the South Rd project - excavation specifically. Also noticed that there's a lot of earth-works and a works depot built near the Port Expressway/South Rd interchange. Generous Commonwealth taxpayers bequesting us with lots of new roads, that's for sure!

Not strictly Adelaide Metro, but ARTC has now closed the pedestrian level crossing of their lines to the west of Mile End station. Access to the station from the Mile End direction now requires walking an additional 480m, including crossing four lanes of busy traffic on James Congdon Drive which is far more dangerous than crossing what is effectively just one lightly-used railway track.

ARTC claims it is a temporary closure until the Torrens Junction project is finished in early 2018, but they not committing to reopening the crossing. They are also flat out refusing to pay for the installation of active gates or an extension of the existing pedestrian subway underneath the ARTC tracks.

Perhaps this is an issue which could be solved by ARTC and the state government making a joint application to access some of the $20B rail infrastructure funding. Or by the state government paying some attention to the calls for a freight train curfew in the metro area during the morning and evening peak hours.

Once both lines are deviated out of the way work should begin in earnest on digging out the trench at this location and keeping metro trains running for as long as possible without interruptions to services on both lines. There will have to be a closure though in the end to reconnect the new trackage to the old trackage but I think Adelaide Metro is keeping shutdowns on this project to a minimum though as even for a couple of days there is an outcry about shutdowns from some.

The word I've heard is that there will be a shutdown of five weeks in September-October, so they are clearly planning for that period to have much more done than just connecting the new tracks.

Perhaps they are basing their decisions on their ticketing data which only counts paying passengers, rather than the 'outcry' which is open to everyone. The western lines have a big problem with fare evasion, not just in the scummy outer areas but also among people headed to the city and dodging the Adelaide ticket gates by transferring to the free tram at Bowden. Hopefully the new Bowden station will either have full-time or part-time ticket gates from day one, or at least passive provision for future installation.

I wouldn't mind betting that the total amount of disruption would be lower if they had decided to do it all in one go (with three shifts working around the clock, crews working on multiple parts of the project simultaneously) rather than mucking around with diversionary routes. Look at how well this went in January with the new rail bridge over South Road and the future North-South Motorway.

Not strictly Adelaide Metro, but ARTC has now closed the pedestrian level crossing of their lines to the west of Mile End station. Access to the station from the Mile End direction now requires walking an additional 480m, including crossing four lanes of busy traffic on James Congdon Drive which is far more dangerous than crossing what is effectively just one lightly-used railway track.

...

Crossing James Congdon Drive to access the station is only required if one is east of James Congdon Drive as pedestrian access to the western end of the Bakewell Underpass is only possible from west of J C Drive.  There are no buildings in the immediate vicinity of the station in the area between James Congdon Dr and the railway.

See map at https://www.artc.com.au/community/mile-end-temp-closure/

I am well aware of the location.

The need to cross James Congdon Drive does need to be considered at least once for each person using the crossing, as there is no signage of the detour on the opposite side of the road and residents have not had letters yet. It also applies to people using the train to access the athletics stadium, as school groups do in numbers up to around 600, where any basic risk assessment would have them looking for other transport options

Regardless of whether it's a 480 metre diversion or 465 metres, either is unacceptable if we want people to be encouraged to use public transport.

I think that keeping the crossing open for weekday peak hours (0730-0900 and 1500-1730) and the gates locked at other times would be a suitable temporary compromise until the Torrens Junction works are completed and trains are no longer stopping or slowing over the crossing. That could be achieved through one of two methods:
1. Having the crossing manned for those periods
2. Retiming trains so the crossing is clear for the whole peak period. Only eight of the MTP paths would need to be retimed, and none by any more than 20 minutes.

I am well aware of the location.

The need to cross James Congdon Drive does need to be considered at least once for each person using the crossing, as there is no signage of the detour on the opposite side of the road and residents have not had letters yet. It also applies to people using the train to access the athletics stadium, as school groups do in numbers up to around 600, where any basic risk assessment would have them looking for other transport options

Regardless of whether it's a 480 metre diversion or 465 metres, either is unacceptable if we want people to be encouraged to use public transport.

I think that keeping the crossing open for weekday peak hours (0730-0900 and 1500-1730) and the gates locked at other times would be a suitable temporary compromise until the Torrens Junction works are completed and trains are no longer stopping or slowing over the crossing. That could be achieved through one of two methods:
1. Having the crossing manned for those periods
2. Retiming trains so the crossing is clear for the whole peak period. Only eight of the MTP paths would need to be retimed, and none by any more than 20 minutes.

A grade-separated option is available, and potentially is far less than 480m depending on the route being taken by the pedestrian.  The rail operator has to be safe so far as is reasonably practicable, so why shouldn't the public have to do the same?  Walking less than 500m to be safe is not unreasonable.

It's a shame that the Aquatic Centre (now somewhat superseded by the new one at Marion) wasn't built next to North Adelaide station instead of its current position; then the station would have had some kind of trip generators that would have made it worthwhile as a metro stop again. I guess the low rise being built on the old Clipsal site might be a source of passengers in the future although they already have the free tram only metres away.

It's a shame that the Aquatic Centre (now somewhat superseded by the new one at Marion) wasn't built next to North Adelaide station instead of its current position; then the station would have had some kind of trip generators that would have made it worthwhile as a metro stop again. I guess the low rise being built on the old Clipsal site might be a source of passengers in the future although they already have the free tram only metres away.

The northern suburbs along the Gawler railway are quite well served in terms of public pools out to the north. With that in mind, the current location of Adelaide Aquatic Centre is in quite a good spot for public transport as most of the inner northern suburbs (and some areas beyond Grand Junction Road) can be accessed using the bus routes that fan out from O'Connell St and Jeffcott St.

The development on the old Clipsal site will also have the new Bowden station (between Park Tce and Gibson St, not in the current location to the west of Gibson St) even closer than either North Adelaide or the Entertainment Centre tram. While it won't be free, some people with a city destination relatively close to the railway station might consider the time saved to be a worthwhile option.

Another shut down long weekend with bustitution on Outer Harbor/Grange line and Gawler line to Mawson Lakes.
Again lots of work going on between the Torrens railway bridges and North Adelaide station.
All metro lines cut in certain areas, with few concrete piles being installed. (SG freight line is open for traffic)

Spoke to an "insider" last week and it appears that the existing Gawler tracks will be temporarily slewed to the east at some stage, almost to the edge of War Memorial Drive.

I will be passing that area on the Indian Pacific in a coupe of weeks, (doing it for my 40th ) interesting to see the works that have taken place!

Kind Regards

I will be passing that area on the Indian Pacific in a coupe of weeks, (doing it for my 40th ) interesting to see the works that have taken place!

Kind Regards

Have you seen it since the Seaford line was slewn under the standard gauge line?

Another shut down long weekend with bustitution on Outer Harbor/Grange line and Gawler line to Mawson Lakes.
Again lots of work going on between the Torrens railway bridges and North Adelaide station.
All metro lines cut in certain areas, with few concrete piles being installed. (SG freight line is open for traffic)

Spoke to an "insider" last week and it appears that the existing Gawler tracks will be temporarily slewed to the east at some stage, almost to the edge of War Memorial Drive.

The Down Gawler was lifted between the bridges and the now closed foot crossing S of Torrens Jn to allow further piling between the Gawler and Port lines. A short length of the deviated Down Gawler just N of the junction to allow piling between the Gawler and ARTC lines.  Yesterday the ARTC was severed at that location and then slewed SE to the other side of the ARTC Up signal before rejoining its original course before the crossing of the Port line. On Friday a track lubricator was installed on the ARTC line just S of North Adelaide Stn presumably to ease passage through the deviation.

Between the deviation and Nth Adelaide Stn some piling was carried with an excavator borne auger to a depth of about 6m.  Steel casings were fitted around the tops of the piles with a framework to support and position large inverted bolts. This is remarkably similar to the foundations of the steel masts on the Seaford line and I suspect some early electrification work was being carried out.

At Bowden part of the tracks were removed to allow further piling at the station. The Gibson St LX and track were removed to allow the installation of the bridge abutments and deck. Track was being restored this afternoon.

Trackwork was also undertaken near Gaol Jn.  This was mainly the installation of a new crossover (Up Gawler - Up Port?) in the section of old track that remained between the Gaol Jn crossovers and the track replaced at Easter.  The old crossovers have been left in position.

Update on Gaol Jn work.

The new trackwork is a new trailing crossover between Gawler tracks and a new facing turnout from Up Gawler which will be connected to west end of the Adelaide Yard Nth sidings. However there seems to be a problem with the new work and the Gawler tracks are closed between Gaol and Nairne Jns with trains diverted to the Port tracks. This will make the evening peak interesting.

Alex C

I will be passing that area on the Indian Pacific in a coupe of weeks, (doing it for my 40th ) interesting to see the works that have taken place!

Kind Regards

Have you seen it since the Seaford line was slewn under the standard gauge line?

Last time I was in Adelaide was 2013

Kind Regards

Last time I was in Adelaide was 2013

Kind Regards

Things do change occasionally...

I see there was somewhat of a stuff up with the reinstatement of trains on the O/H and Gawler lines this morning due to works running over time.

Last time I was in Adelaide was 2013

Kind Regards

Things do change occasionally...

I see there was somewhat of a stuff up with the reinstatement of trains on the O/H and Gawler lines this morning due to works running over time.

The recent weekend works were subject to a number of time constraints.

• The Outer Harbor line has short overnight access window. Last train into Adelaide arrives 0140 with first train out at 0434 (0612 weekends and holidays)
• The ARTC line was kept running with a freight through Torrens Jn about midday on Saturday
• There was an AFL game on Friday night and trains were kept running

The Gawler line track closures remained in place this morning on both lines.    The effect of this is to effectively reduce the Gawler line to single track working over the cross-over from the Port line to the Gawler line.

Those bases do indeed look like bases for the electrification of the Gawler line for they appear to follow the new alignment.

Last time I was in Adelaide was 2013

Kind Regards

Things do change occasionally...

I see there was somewhat of a stuff up with the reinstatement of trains on the O/H and Gawler lines this morning due to works running over time.

The recent weekend works were subject to a number of time constraints.

• The Outer Harbor line has short overnight access window. Last train into Adelaide arrives 0140 with first train out at 0434 (0612 weekends and holidays)
• The ARTC line was kept running with a freight through Torrens Jn about midday on Saturday
• There was an AFL game on Friday night and trains were kept running

The Ghan from Darwin would have passed through on Saturday morning as did the Ghan back to Darwin on Sunday at 12:30pm