News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Trains

[AndyWelsh]

Has anyone got an idea of when in April the Gawler line will reopen? I live next to the Seaford Line and I’m really hoping that the noisy diesels will stop running down our line for storage or whatever, and go back to Dry Creek.


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[PD2/20]

Has anyone got an idea of when in April the Gawler line will reopen? I live next to the Seaford Line and I’m really hoping that the noisy diesels will stop running down our line for storage or whatever, and go back to Dry Creek.

The diesel movements to Seaford have been necessitated by the daytime track occupations of the Gawler line for the electrification and signalling work and more recently for the Ovingham level crossing removal and station upgrades. A programme of more intensive test running daytime started on Tuesday and is scheduled until late April (see the Gawler Closure page on the Admet website). The removal of the track occupations could mean that the daytime stock movements to Dry Creek to support the Belair and Outer Harbor could resume before then. It may depend when the handovers of the track from Acciona to the Rail Commissioner and then to Keolis Downer take place.

[AndyWelsh]

Thank you


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[Spotto]

Ah, the forward planning from Perthers, combining more than one disruptive project into a single closure instead of multiple closures for each project.

If we had that kind of thinking here in Adelaide, the Outer Harbour Line's South Road overpass would've been constructed while the line was closed periodically in 2017 for the Torrens Junction project. Electrification could've even partially overlapped with the closures.

Or the stations on the Gawler Line could've all be renewed and lengthened/raised when the government knew the line would be closed for at least a year anyway. The same could be said for the few remaining stations on the Seaford Line (and Mitchell Park) that are too short for 6 car EMUs.

https://www.metronet.wa.gov.au/news/lat ... adale-line

Major METRONET projects to transform the Armadale Line

20 February 2022

The 129-year-old Armadale Line is set to be transformed through major METRONET projects – the Byford Rail Extension, Victoria Park-Canning Level Crossing Removal, and Thornlie-Cockburn Link.

These projects include extending the train line to Byford, tying in the Thornlie-Cockburn Link at Thornlie Station, and elevating the rail throughout Victoria Park and Cannington.

To enable work on these three projects to occur as quickly and safely as possible, the Armadale Line will be shut for up to 18 months, starting in early-2023.

An extended shutdown means these METRONET projects can be built over a shorter timeframe and provide certainty for train replacement services.

A number of shutdown options were examined, with the extended shutdown the least disruptive over the longer term and allows the project to be undertaken faster with a safer workplace environment.

Planning to reduce the impact of this significant disruption is already underway and the exact timing of the shutdown will be confirmed later this year along with further information on train replacement services.

Thousands of local jobs will be supported and created through these projects, with the final scope, cost, and timeframes to be confirmed once contracts are awarded.

[Pistol]

Has anyone got an idea of when in April the Gawler line will reopen? I live next to the Seaford Line and I’m really hoping that the noisy diesels will stop running down our line for storage or whatever, and go back to Dry Creek.

NIMBY much?

[PeFe]

Test train at the North Adelaide station.

Photo taken by Rail Page member 8502.

[ChillyPhilly]

Peter Malinauskas on Facebook:

This is not the news commuters will want to hear, but we want to be open and transparent with you.
Upon coming to government, we have learned the Gawler line won’t be able to re-open in April as the former government stated.
We are all frustrated by these delays. But we can now advise commuters will be back on trains by 30 June.

[PeFe]

The Gawler line will not re-open until June 30.

All Adelaide Metro replacement buses are free from April 4 until the line opens.

Free substitute buses on Adelaide's Gawler train line as delays to electrification work revealed



South Australia's new Transport Minister says a commuter rail project originally promised to be finished in 2020 will now be completed in June.

Tom Koutsantonis described the project as a "hot mess" under the former Liberal government's management.

He said it knew the Gawler line electrification would not be completed this month, as it had said in the lead-up to last month's state election.

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport's website continues to say electric trains will start taking passengers in April 2022.

Mr Koutsantonis today announced fares for passengers using substitute buses for the train service to Adelaide's northern suburbs would be free from Monday.

Coaches replacing some services had already been free.

Labor also offered free substitute buses during delays to finishing the electrification of the Seaford line in 2013, something former transport minister Corey Wingard had refused to do in 2020 or last year.

"I think it's fair to say this whole project is a hot mess," Mr Koutsantonis said.

"The department had advised the former government that the development of the project was going to be delayed again and that for some reason was kept from the people of South Australia before the election.

"The people of the northern suburbs now have to suffer more delays and those delays are a consequence of a project that stopped, that started, that stopped, that started.

"It's been impacted by COVID and quite frankly managed pretty poorly."



He said trains would now resume on June 30, if advice from the department was to be believed, which he doubted.

"I'm not sure if we can even rely on that," he said.

The electrification of the Gawler line was announced by the former state Labor government in 2008 as a joint-funded project with the former federal Labor government.

But when the Coalition led by Tony Abbott won the 2013 federal election, the funding was pulled and the SA government shelved the project.

It resurrected the project in early 2018 — ahead of the state election — in a stage-one announcement to build it to Salisbury.

But when the Liberal Party won the election, it resecured funding from the federal Coalition to electrify the line all the way to Gawler.

Since then, the project has been dogged by delayed opening dates after first being slated for 2020, then 2021 and finally April 2022.



In January, former Department for Infrastructure Transport chief executive Tony Braxton-Smith said welding defects in new train sets purchased for the line meant diesel trains would join electric ones on the tracks until March 2023.

New electric trains have been tested on the Gawler line since February.

Mr Koutsantonis said the cost of the project may blow out by another $60 million, bringing its total value to about $900 million.

An opposition spokesman said the department had told the then-government in February that the Gawler line would be operating by the end of April.

"Trains would have been progressively rolled out on to the line up until June 30 but Labor sacked the CEO and now we're seeing another frustrating delay," he said.

"Let's just hope Tom Koutsantonis isn't denying the people of the north their much-needed train service for a selfish political stunt."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-02/ ... /100961484

[Spotto]

"Let's just hope Tom Koutsantonis isn't denying the people of the north their much-needed train service for a selfish political stunt."

Was wondering how long it would be before the opposition blamed the new government for delays on a project inherited from the opposition.

What a scummy attempt at scoring political points.

[rubberman]

The Gawler line will not re-open until June 30.

All Adelaide Metro replacement buses are free from April 4 until the line opens.

Free substitute buses on Adelaide's Gawler train line as delays to electrification work revealed



South Australia's new Transport Minister says a commuter rail project originally promised to be finished in 2020 will now be completed in June.

Tom Koutsantonis described the project as a "hot mess" under the former Liberal government's management.

He said it knew the Gawler line electrification would not be completed this month, as it had said in the lead-up to last month's state election.

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport's website continues to say electric trains will start taking passengers in April 2022.

Mr Koutsantonis today announced fares for passengers using substitute buses for the train service to Adelaide's northern suburbs would be free from Monday.

Coaches replacing some services had already been free.

Labor also offered free substitute buses during delays to finishing the electrification of the Seaford line in 2013, something former transport minister Corey Wingard had refused to do in 2020 or last year.

"I think it's fair to say this whole project is a hot mess," Mr Koutsantonis said.

"The department had advised the former government that the development of the project was going to be delayed again and that for some reason was kept from the people of South Australia before the election.

"The people of the northern suburbs now have to suffer more delays and those delays are a consequence of a project that stopped, that started, that stopped, that started.

"It's been impacted by COVID and quite frankly managed pretty poorly."



He said trains would now resume on June 30, if advice from the department was to be believed, which he doubted.

(Snip)

The electrification of the Gawler line was announced by the former state Labor government in 2008 as a joint-funded project with the former federal Labor government.

But when the Coalition led by Tony Abbott won the 2013 federal election, the funding was pulled and the SA government shelved the project.

It resurrected the project in early 2018 — ahead of the state election — in a stage-one announcement to build it to Salisbury.

But when the Liberal Party won the election, it resecured funding from the federal Coalition to electrify the line all the way to Gawler.

Since then, the project has been dogged by delayed opening dates after first being slated for 2020, then 2021 and finally April 2022.

(snip).

"Trains would have been progressively rolled out on to the line up until June 30 but Labor sacked the CEO and now we're seeing another frustrating delay," he said.

"Let's just hope Tom Koutsantonis isn't denying the people of the north their much-needed train service for a selfish political stunt."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-02/ ... /100961484

So...Federal Labor funded it...and Federal Libs ditched it...until State Libs got in and put "their man" in control.

Their man presided over a two year delay.

Now, I can't comment on why the Liberal transport appointee was let go by Labor, but I think a we need a little more explanation from the Liberals about why they think things could be worse by letting this guy go after he has already had two years extra time to get the job done.

[ChillyPhilly]

The Liberal Party at any level has zero interest in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, or its people.

Both electorally and personally.

If the Liberal Party was an intelligent one, they would have pushed the project to a faster completion, cut the ribbon, then taken credit for it.

But, once more, it would be of no electoral or political benefit.

[rogue]

Interesting how this is a slanging match over which party is responsible, yet Acciona's performance as the managing contractor is completely overlooked.

In reality, once funded and the "under contruction" signs are up, how is any political party going to seriously imact the timeline?

[ChillyPhilly]

Interesting how this is a slanging match over which party is responsible, yet Acciona's performance as the managing contractor is completely overlooked.

In reality, once funded and the "under contruction" signs are up, how is any political party going to seriously imact the timeline?

Incentives for meeting deadlines? Labor made use of bonuses for Adelaide Oval to be completed on time in 2014.

[SBD]

Interesting how this is a slanging match over which party is responsible, yet Acciona's performance as the managing contractor is completely overlooked.

In reality, once funded and the "under contruction" signs are up, how is any political party going to seriously imact the timeline?

Incentives for meeting deadlines? Labor made use of bonuses for Adelaide Oval to be completed on time in 2014.

Are the terms of large government contracts public? Neither political party has made any noise about the costs of delays or early-finish bonuses, nor the inverse of cost savings from construction time overrun penalties.

I vaguely recall that the line will not be handed to Keolis Downer until it has been completed and handed over from the construction company. Maybe the construction cost overruns are matched by operations contract savings so it makes no financial difference to the government's bottom line?

[Hooligan]

How much test running of trains is required on the gawler line?

I live near the line and hear a train go by atleast once an hour from first thing in the morning to late into the evening every day.

Just seems strange to me.