News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Trains

[RetroGamer87]

The photo in the article shows an Adelaide Metro railcar, but no where has anyone said that's what struck him. There's also the ARTC track there and goods trains take a lot longer to stop. They're also going quite fast, they can come from either direction and because they are less frequent, pedestrians don't pay as much attention to the ARTC track.

The ARTC track has its own set of active pedestrian gates that operate separately from the Adelaide Metro tracks.

At Nth Adelaide Station the ARTC line does have a separate crossing. However at Torrens Jn (where this week's incident took place) there is a single crossing across all 3 tracks which is activated by either ARTC or DTI trains.

Does that mean if a goods train was passing pedestrians would be prevented from accessing the northbound platform from the eastern side even though that doesn't require them to cross the ARTC line?

[PD2/20]

The ARTC track has its own set of active pedestrian gates that operate separately from the Adelaide Metro tracks.

At Nth Adelaide Station the ARTC line does have a separate crossing. However at Torrens Jn (where this week's incident took place) there is a single crossing across all 3 tracks which is activated by either ARTC or DTI trains.

Does that mean if a goods train was passing pedestrians would be prevented from accessing the northbound platform from the eastern side even though that doesn't require them to cross the ARTC line?

At N Adelaide Stn a freight train will not prevent passengers from accessing the northbound platform from War Memorial Drive as only the ARTC crossing gates will be activated.

[PeFe]

Maintenance works on the Seaford/Flinders Lines.

















Photos sourced from Adelaide Metro Facebook page

[RetroGamer87]

At Nth Adelaide Station the ARTC line does have a separate crossing. However at Torrens Jn (where this week's incident took place) there is a single crossing across all 3 tracks which is activated by either ARTC or DTI trains.

Does that mean if a goods train was passing pedestrians would be prevented from accessing the northbound platform from the eastern side even though that doesn't require them to cross the ARTC line?

At N Adelaide Stn a freight train will not prevent passengers from accessing the northbound platform from War Memorial Drive as only the ARTC crossing gates will be activated.

Well that's a relief

[PeFe]

Kouts backs future rail link to Riverlea Park. One suburb does not justify a new rail link but a new line servicing 20 new suburbs does.

Do not use the current freight line....passenger and freight should be kept totally separate.

The new line should branch off the Gawler line north of Dry Creek running parallel to Port Wakefield Rd terminating at Riverlea Park. Every new station should be surrounded by a t.o.d. and co-ordinated bus services. Modern planning ideas not "1950's suburbs in the middle of nowhere" stuff.

From Indaily

Transport Minister backs Riverlea rail link – but says more population growth needed
Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis says there should be a passenger train service to the Riverlea housing estate in Adelaide’s north, but the area is “not developed to the point yet where you could justify a rail line”.



Public transport advocates have been pushing for a rail link to Riverlea in Adelaide's northwest. Left photo: Walker Corporation; right photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily


The Riverlea master planned community is projected to deliver 12,000 new homes and 40,000 new residents to a greenfield area roughly 30 kilometres north of the CBD near Buckland Park.

But the $3 billion estate is currently only served by an hourly bus to the Elizabeth and Salisbury interchanges, with new residents otherwise dependent on car travel.

Public transport advocates, Labor MPs and independent MP Frank Pangallo have called on the government to build a spur line off the current Gawler train line to service Riverlea and Adelaide’s northwest spine.


The location of Riverlea in comparison to Gawler and the Adelaide CBD. Image: Google Maps

Asked on FIVEaa Mornings today whether there should be a spur line to Riverlea, Koutsantonis said: “Yeah, there should be.”

Asked why one is not being built, Koutsantonis said the government needs to first undo the privatisation of Adelaide’s passenger rail.

But he said planning was underway to examine what power source a future northern suburbs rail extension would need.

“What we are doing right now is we are doing a lot of planning,” Koutsantonis said.

“We are doing planning in Mount Barker, we are doing planning out north and we are doing planning out south – we are asking people what services they want.

“Now rail lines are inherently very, very expensive and you want to electrify these lines and we are also doing studies about whether or not you would need to put the gantries up or you would just use electric battery trains.

“So, you have got the gantry up to Gawler, if you go to Concordia and Riverlea do you need to actually build the electric infrastructure all the way… to those suburbs?

“Or do you just have it being charged up until Gawler and then going by battery for the rest of the distance?

“So, we’re doing all of that work.”


The Riverlea masterplan. Image: Walker Corporation

The state and federal governments jointly invested $842 million to electrify the Gawler line in a project that suffered numerous cost blowouts and delays.

The Transport Department has also hired consultants to investigate how to shift Adelaide Metro’s remaining diesel trains – which run on the Belair, Outer Harbor and Grange lines – to zero-emissions technology.

The first residents moved into Riverlea in October 2022. Koutnsatonis said the area’s population did not yet justify a rail link.

“Trains can carry 500 people. Right now, our transport is not at capacity, there’s a lot more space on our trains for a lot more people,” he said.

“So, Riverlea’s not developed to the point yet where you could justify a rail line.

https://www.indaily.com.au/news/2024/02 ... -rail-link

[baytram366]

I don't understand this government logic that the current population doesn't warrant a new rail link. What ever happened to "Build it and they will come" - rail and public transport corridors should be factored into any new development. There is no point in waiting until everyone moves in and there is no more land for a train so, if the train line does cut built, it can't even be built where it actually needs to go. And by then everyone is used to using their car anyway so the train is doomed to fail. The train lines should be built first / early on and the new housing developed around it / over the top of it.

[A-Town]

Disappointing. Mali and Labor appear stuck in the 1950s with their promotion of urban sprawl and lack of public transport expansion projects.

[Nort]

Yeah, build the rail line first, or at least dedicate the corridor through the development so that it can be built around it. Best case scenario under this approach is that years from now it's built in a way that is more expensive than it would be doing it right from the start, and will be isolated to a station at the fringe of one side of the town.

Proponents should be hitting Labor with the fact that under these plans, they are committing to an immediate future that sees an increasingly smaller proportion of Adelaides population with good access to public transport.

[rev]

Disappointing. Mali and Labor appear stuck in the 1950s with their promotion of urban sprawl and lack of public transport expansion projects.

If Adelaide had a higher population growth and stronger economic performance over say the past 40 years, these areas would have already been developed into housing. And these areas are already within the metropolitan boundary.

The fact still remains that the majority of people want their own detached home and block of land.

Riverlea is likely to grow in the future anyway, if not directly as a development then with other developments adjacent to it. While it's not ideal there's no rail link yet into this development, there's still ample time and room for a rail link to the area as a whole.
Personally I think it'll happen within a 10-15 years. Riverlea alone is going to be home to 40,000 people. Much to some people's despair, there's going to be quite a few more housing developments particularly along the motorway that will happen in the near future.

The only threat to an eventual rail link is a Liberal government getting into power before a rail line up to the area can near completion.

[victorious80]

Doing the transport planning after the development has been planned is like adding the egg whites to the pavlova after it's come out of the oven.

These days, transport is as critical to urban development as water/sewer/power/comms. You wouldn't wait until 10,000 people moved in before making provisions for power.

And it's extremely short sighted to believe that a rail line to Riverlea would only service Riverlea. Once the rail line is there, the entire rail corridor becomes a strategic location for development, so you start to see development along the rail line. If you wait until a bunch of developments are complete and then build a line, it is difficult to find an alignment that suits all the developments.

We have known for some time that Virginia, Riverlea and Two Wells were significant opportunities for urban development. All could be serviced by a single line, but trying to thread the needle in 10 years time will be tough.

None of this thinking is ground breaking. It is par for the course in most developed countries (including many parts of Aus). Just seems to be beyond the grasp of our local pollies.

[ChillyPhilly]

Country town mentality strikes again. Not surprising though.

[rubberman]

Disappointing. Mali and Labor appear stuck in the 1950s with their promotion of urban sprawl and lack of public transport expansion projects.

If Adelaide had a higher population growth and stronger economic performance over say the past 40 years, these areas would have already been developed into housing. And these areas are already within the metropolitan boundary.

The fact still remains that the majority of people want their own detached home and block of land.

Riverlea is likely to grow in the future anyway, if not directly as a development then with other developments adjacent to it. While it's not ideal there's no rail link yet into this development, there's still ample time and room for a rail link to the area as a whole.
Personally I think it'll happen within a 10-15 years. Riverlea alone is going to be home to 40,000 people. Much to some people's despair, there's going to be quite a few more housing developments particularly along the motorway that will happen in the near future.

The only threat to an eventual rail link is a Liberal government getting into power before a rail line up to the area can near completion.

People do want their own detached home and block of land. I agree.

They also want to be within half an hour of the CBD usually.

Unless they are rich, it's usually a choice of one or the other because detached housing close to the CBD is very limited.

However, the outcome is usually people making the choice of a detached house, then complaining about the length of the commute to work.

Of course, that could be minimised by fast trains with few stations fed by buses. They also don't want to transfer from one mode to another and want a station within walking distance, like a tram.

However, the outcome is usually people making the choice of stations within walking distance. So the trains are slow...and people complaining about the length of the commute to work.

Hence, by our own choice, we have slow trains and housing way out past the black stump.

Not much to be done, really.

[abc]

Disappointing. Mali and Labor appear stuck in the 1950s with their promotion of urban sprawl and lack of public transport expansion projects.

If Adelaide had a higher population growth and stronger economic performance over say the past 40 years, these areas would have already been developed into housing. And these areas are already within the metropolitan boundary.

The fact still remains that the majority of people want their own detached home and block of land.

Riverlea is likely to grow in the future anyway, if not directly as a development then with other developments adjacent to it. While it's not ideal there's no rail link yet into this development, there's still ample time and room for a rail link to the area as a whole.
Personally I think it'll happen within a 10-15 years. Riverlea alone is going to be home to 40,000 people. Much to some people's despair, there's going to be quite a few more housing developments particularly along the motorway that will happen in the near future.

The only threat to an eventual rail link is a Liberal government getting into power before a rail line up to the area can near completion.

People do want their own detached home and block of land. I agree.

They also want to be within half an hour of the CBD usually.

Unless they are rich, it's usually a choice of one or the other because detached housing close to the CBD is very limited.

However, the outcome is usually people making the choice of a detached house, then complaining about the length of the commute to work.

Of course, that could be minimised by fast trains with few stations fed by buses. They also don't want to transfer from one mode to another and want a station within walking distance, like a tram.

However, the outcome is usually people making the choice of stations within walking distance. So the trains are slow...and people complaining about the length of the commute to work.

Hence, by our own choice, we have slow trains and housing way out past the black stump.

Not much to be done, really.

not necessarily... not all the jobs are in the CBD, far from it... its far less of a destination than the main 4 cities of Australia's CBDs

the largest employment sectors are aged care and the public service...these jobs are dispersed throughout the metro area

[Patrick_27]

So let me get this straight, Mount Barker has a population of 40,000 and the state government have rebuked every suggestion of an electrified rail service to the centre, meanwhile Kouts is talking out of his arse about a possible rail service to Riverlea, so long as the population of the area grows enough to justify it. This is either a bullshit promise that will lead nowhere (which will just further cause problems for our bus and road network(s), or IF it were to happen, just goes to show that state Labor governments will only serve the typically northern suburb electorates that vote for them. Either way, fund the public transport projects that are already begging for it, i.e. electrified O/H and Belair Line(s).

[rubberman]

If Adelaide had a higher population growth and stronger economic performance over say the past 40 years, these areas would have already been developed into housing. And these areas are already within the metropolitan boundary.

The fact still remains that the majority of people want their own detached home and block of land.

Riverlea is likely to grow in the future anyway, if not directly as a development then with other developments adjacent to it. While it's not ideal there's no rail link yet into this development, there's still ample time and room for a rail link to the area as a whole.
Personally I think it'll happen within a 10-15 years. Riverlea alone is going to be home to 40,000 people. Much to some people's despair, there's going to be quite a few more housing developments particularly along the motorway that will happen in the near future.

The only threat to an eventual rail link is a Liberal government getting into power before a rail line up to the area can near completion.

People do want their own detached home and block of land. I agree.

They also want to be within half an hour of the CBD usually.

Unless they are rich, it's usually a choice of one or the other because detached housing close to the CBD is very limited.

However, the outcome is usually people making the choice of a detached house, then complaining about the length of the commute to work.

Of course, that could be minimised by fast trains with few stations fed by buses. They also don't want to transfer from one mode to another and want a station within walking distance, like a tram.

However, the outcome is usually people making the choice of stations within walking distance. So the trains are slow...and people complaining about the length of the commute to work.

Hence, by our own choice, we have slow trains and housing way out past the black stump.

Not much to be done, really.

not necessarily... not all the jobs are in the CBD, far from it... its far less of a destination than the main 4 cities of Australia's CBDs

the largest employment sectors are aged care and the public service...these jobs are dispersed throughout the metro area

While that's true, it doesn't have much bearing on rail corridors that all centre on the CBD.