News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Trains

[rubberman]

What I find extraordinary is they're spending $10m on consultants to undertake a study whose outcomes are already known and the complex questions could literally be answered by at least 500+ rail experts / hobbyists / enthusiasts here, on Reddit & Railpage overnight, rather than take 2 years to conclude.

Trains are a popular niche for some reason.

A focus group would have told Labor they needed to throw a bone to the PT fraternity. The Port Dock extension was easy/ cheap and ready to go. Tick. Now the next rail project will be costly be it light or heavy rail, but they have to have something on the books so people think they are doing "something" in this field. Que ...an expensive and unnecessary report that shows a transport minister suddenly all concerned about rail, complete with press releases...nodding heads and all the while knowing full well he wont have to come up with any funds, except the $10 million pocket money and the Libs will have nothing anyway.

Light rail extensions are not expensive in the scheme of things. Unless they are gold-plated ones like Sydney’s.

Pre-covid, we built the most complex bit of our network (the ‘grand junction’) plus a kilometre of track along North Tce and King William for just under 100 million dollars. That’s a tenth to a 20th of the projected per km cost for south road. Obviously costs have risen since covid, but even so. For half a billion dollars (not even that much in todays money) you could easily build a whole new line servicing somewhere like Unley, Prospect or the Airport.

When it comes to tram network expansion and repairs, we should be looking to Melbourne for expertise rather than expensive multinational consultants.

Precisely.

Melbourne is replacing track every year. It's done extremely quickly, and it looks nowhere near as expensive as Sydney or Parramatta, for example. The reason for that is that they don't have to worry about locating services,
plus the design is far less gold plated .Those advantages are available for Adelaide in streets where trams formerly existed.

[ChillyPhilly]

At least one game in the Barossa next year for AFL Gather Round. I wonder if this will maintain public discourse on trains to the Barossa.

[Saltwater]

How much of the original right of way is still there (i.e. not used for walking tracks etc) if they wanted to re-use it for passenger services?

[AG]

How much of the original right of way is still there (i.e. not used for walking tracks etc) if they wanted to re-use it for passenger services?

The entire right of way including the tracks between Gawler Central and Lyndoch is still in place. Some of the infrastructure (railway crossing lights, signals) that was serving the line has been removed though, and a couple of fences for walkways have been installed over the tracks.

[rhino]

Do the tracks still go through Kromer Crossing, or did they get covered with bitumen after the line stopped being used?

[AG]

Do the tracks still go through Kromer Crossing, or did they get covered with bitumen after the line stopped being used?

Kromer Crossing has been ripped up and replaced with a roundabout. The line is still in place either side of the crossing though - trains could be reinstated as far as Tanunda without having to build a new alignment.

[Spotto]

Do the tracks still go through Kromer Crossing, or did they get covered with bitumen after the line stopped being used?

Kromer Crossing has been ripped up and replaced with a roundabout. The line is still in place either side of the crossing though - trains could be reinstated as far as Tanunda without having to build a new alignment.

It also wouldn’t be much of a challenge to alter the roundabout to run the tracks through if in future trains ever wanted to run further than Tanunda. There’s a few roundabouts with trains running through scattered around the world.

[SBD]

Do the tracks still go through Kromer Crossing, or did they get covered with bitumen after the line stopped being used?

Kromer Crossing has been ripped up and replaced with a roundabout. The line is still in place either side of the crossing though - trains could be reinstated as far as Tanunda without having to build a new alignment.

It also wouldn’t be much of a challenge to alter the roundabout to run the tracks through if in future trains ever wanted to run further than Tanunda. There’s a few roundabouts with trains running through scattered around the world.

The track has been replaced by the Barossa Trail on the formation from Nuriootpa Junction to Angaston Station. The Trail is either a different route or adjacent to the railway from Nuriootpa to Gawler.

[PeFe]

Ethelton train station upgrade. Photos sourced from Adelaide Metro Facebook page.

[abc]

did they ever fix those apartments or are they still sinking into the Port River?

[PeFe]

did they ever fix those apartments or are they still sinking into the Port River?

Where is your proof for this comment?

[Spotto]

Wow they made quick work of those old platforms! Nice to see the shelters are being kept, with any luck they might add another pair.

[abc]

did they ever fix those apartments or are they still sinking into the Port River?

Where is your proof for this comment?

Its not a comment, it a question. Learn the difference.
This was all over the news about a decade ago.

[Nort]

did they ever fix those apartments or are they still sinking into the Port River?

Where is your proof for this comment?

Its not a comment, it a question. Learn the difference.
This was all over the news about a decade ago.

Got a link? Can't find it in a quick search.

[PeFe]

did they ever fix those apartments or are they still sinking into the Port River?

Where is your proof for this comment?

Its not a comment, it a question. Learn the difference.
This was all over the news about a decade ago.

If it was "all over the news" a decade ago where are you links to prove your argument?

There was an issue with cladding post 2017 after the Grenfell fire in London. Quite a different issue from "the apartments sinking".