News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Trains

[rhino]

Great article though Duke - imagine if it was allowed to happen - fancy that - common sense for the good of us all!

[skyliner]

Good article but very disappointing - again.

As I have said on other posts, it appears there is an agenda to destroy Adelaide' and SA's rail system. I have come to this conclusion after 30 years of observation. Take the SE rail system, Won't be opened by SA gov't unless a private party gets involved - that's what we were told in about 2002. Now you have Protavia opening it ALL except to MG - any word of the government opening just 40 km of track to the Mount - noooo!. ALL it needs is ONE EXISTING rail moved in from broad to Standard gauge - therefore you get it all done on the cheap! How many cities in Australia of 24000 (MG) have no railway?

All the inaction on the Adelaide system smacks of the very same thing.

[rhino]

[quote="skyliner"]
ALL it needs is ONE EXISTING rail moved in from broad to Standard gauge - therefore you get it all done on the cheap![quote]

This would, indeed, give you a standard gauge railway, but unfortunately nothing but a section car or handcart would be able to use it. The line is now in very poor condition and needs to be rebuilt (sleepers, ballast, tamping, etc) before it would be considered safe for rollingstock.

[rhino]

How many cities in Australia of 24000 (MG) have no railway?

Karratha? (admittedly I had to rack my brains to come up with that )

[Tom]

The line is now in very poor condition and needs to be rebuilt (sleepers, ballast, tamping, etc) before it would be considered safe for rollingstock.

The sleepers are actually in pretty good condition with most still being ok for service, most of them are steel. Ballast can be reclaimed although it would proberly require more to laid... somthing thats not too hard to do.

[rhino]

I agree, it should be done. I was just pointing out that it's not as simple as moving a rail 6 1/2 inches and running trains on it.

[muzzamo]

I wonder if they have upgraded their software again (see image), right click and save

[Norman]

I saw that yesterday, but didn't have a good look at it. What's new?

[AG]

Which station was that image taken at? There really needs to be a listing of the stopping pattern as well, rather than just the destination.

[skyliner]

ALL it needs is ONE EXISTING rail moved in from broad to Standard gauge - therefore you get it all done on the cheap!

This would, indeed, give you a standard gauge railway, but unfortunately nothing but a section car or handcart would be able to use it. The line is now in very poor condition and needs to be rebuilt (sleepers, ballast, tamping, etc) before it would be considered safe for rollingstock.

As someone has said, the line is in effect able to take trains - the Limestone Coast Railway had used it with 5 redhens (originally from Adelaide) up till about 2 years ago as far as I know - then stopped due to insurance costs. Thus, the line is not too bad. It is possible to shift a rail in from Broad gauge to standard and be used as such. Thisi dea was done in 1954 when narrow gauge ran on broad gauge sleepering there. There was no imbalance of weight distribution affecting the sleepers. (a three rail system).

Over and above all this, it still begs the questiuon as to why no government involvement in extending the standard gauge only 40 Km to MG. (see my earlier posts on this and the link to Adelaide -to keep relevant)..

[rhino]

My bad, Skyliner - I had completely forgotten about the Limestone Coast Railway. Apologies.

[muzzamo]

Which station was that image taken at? There really needs to be a listing of the stopping pattern as well, rather than just the destination.

Adelaide, platform 1

[Norman]

The screens next to those have the stops listed

[Dave_The_Planner]

On AdelaideNow website...

ADELAIDE has been named Australia's most car-dominated city with more people driving to work per head of population than any other capital city.

A university of Melbourne study revealed that 320,735 South Australians (or 75.4 per cent) drove to work each day while another 28,375 people (6.7 per cent) travelled as a passenger.

Perth followed closely behind with 75 per cent of people driving to work, followed by Melbourne with 73 per cent and Canberra with 72.3 per cent.

Sydney had the lowest percentage with only 63.4 per cent of people driving to work.

The study, which looked at how people travelled to work from 1976 to 2006, also found that only nine per cent of people in Adelaide used public transport.

The report listed Government's failure to spend enough money on public transport as the reason for the increase in drivers.

"Adelaide remains dominated by road construction, with public transport and walking very much an afterthought," it says.

"Adelaide is now the only capital city with a suburban rail system that has not been electrified.

"As a result car driving has increased faster than in any other city ... and is now the highest in the nation."

[Shuz]

Its obvious just by looking outside how car-dominated Adelaide is.