PRO: Port Adelaide Tramline | $260m

[Xaragmata]

I would expect there to be some kind of announcement regarding the future of the Port Adelaide tram line as we get closer to the election. Let's just wait and see

I expect a lot of announcements on new projects & reheats of old ones around that time. Just as I finished typing, I heard Kevin Foley
on 891 talking about Harts Mill & precinct, saying the tram will branch of the O/H line, down Comm Road & St Vincent St, past Harts Mill
& on to Semaphore. Time will tell.

[Westside]

For one, the tram to West Lakes was never designed to completely take over every Footy Express bus, just the ones to town. So there is no need to cater for 100% of the public transport patrons catching trams. What it does is give people another more attractive alternative and encourage more people leave their cars away from AAMI stadium. As most of the games fall outside peak travel periods (Friday night games may struggle), there will be plenty of spare trams on a saturday or sunday to adequately cater for the demand.

Also, it is my belief that the Grange line will be kept as heavy rail (for the time being). This seems to be a waste for the remaining 3 stops on the line. Surely the most sensible thing would be to have the Sema4, WL and Grange trams serve the stations between Woodville and the Ent Ctr, along with the Sema4 tram serving stations between Woodville and the Port Adelaide branch (so these stations can be redesigned purely for trams). Then all OH trains can then run express from Bowden to Woodville (to transfer) then express from Woodville to Port Adelaide (to transfer to branch line). This will speed up the OH line and provide greater frequency for the intermediate stations.

Thirdly, does anyone know how the tram will across the Port river - Birkinhead Bridge, Jervois Bridge or the current rail bridge? There seems to be little information about it's path from the OH line to Sema4.

I just hope they don't eliminate the heavy rail from the OH line, but I also think having a separate light rail line so close on Port rd is a huge waste of money. Can you imagine having another tram line to Glenelg along Anzac Hwy? It didn't survive in the 1920's (the old Glenelg railway through Plympton etc), and it isn't viable now.

Ahh, why so the governments promise so many projects without fully looking into them first???

[AtD]

Judging by the dodgy map with the initial announcement, the path will be Commercial Rd -> St Vincent St -> Causeway Rd -> Semaphore Rd, but I suspect this is just an initial proposal and not anything concrete.

[mattblack]

Ahh, why so the governments promise so many projects without fully looking into them first???

Much planning, re-zoning of land and property aquisitions need to take place before construction. This would have been the case for the land up to the entertainment centre before the announcment, the rest of the planning can be done in stages as needed. If you wait for the whole line to be properly planned first before announcing anything you'd be waiting years, things can also change so by the time the end of the line is finally ready for construction to commence 2-3 yrs might of passed and a new planning approval needs to be undertaken because of legal timeframes.

[Xaragmata]

Judging by the dodgy map with the initial announcement, the path will be Commercial Rd -> St Vincent St -> Causeway Rd -> Semaphore Rd, but I suspect this is just an initial proposal and not anything concrete.

Where they will hit concrete is on the deck of the Jervois Bridge, which was built in the late 1960s, with a concrete deck - difficult to
embed tram lines in the existing deck profile, so would they reduce the vehicle lanes & have the tram in a raised median, widen the
bridge, or decide it's all too hard?

[monotonehell]

I was quoting 'how_good_is_he' something which you removed, so get stuffed troll.

OI! Not trolling - it was an honest question. I thought you had some kind of projection about future expected capacity. Now I see you were just answering how_good_is_he's "if" question, sorry. I was mathematically trying to work out how you got 10,000 from a "one hour trip".

[gumbi]

Just looking at what has been discussed previously I just want to talk about a couple of points.

1. Surely closing the Grange line completely and redirecting to West Lakes would be a bad idea. Firstly, the line could have great potential in the future perhaps even with a connection to Henley Beach. Secondly, it is imperative that the government continues to encourage people to use public transport and I don't think closing a train line sends the right message. I'm sure people would regret the closure of the line in the future.

2. Converting the entire Outer Harbor line to light rail must be unfeasible. There is quite a bit of distance between Port Adelaide and Outer Harbor. Would trams be suitable to this job, considering they are slower and carry less passengers? I also don't think stopping heavy rail from entering the city centre is a good idea at all. Adelaide Train station is beautiful and under-utilised in it's current state. The government needs to ensure that as many people as possible are moving through that area.

I know that running a tram line along the centre of Port Road would be expensive, but I don't agree with the idea of heavy and light rail sharing the current corridor. Maybe all Outer Harbor trains could run express to Woodville, with the Grange train servicing stops prior to that as well as light rail on a separate corridor.

[Westside]

Judging by the dodgy map with the initial announcement, the path will be Commercial Rd -> St Vincent St -> Causeway Rd -> Semaphore Rd, but I suspect this is just an initial proposal and not anything concrete.

St Vincent Street and Causeway Rd don't actually intersect (well they do, but at 10m height difference) and I'd hate to see the tram try and make that grade

Also, where is the tram entering Causeway Rd? From Grand Junction Rd, or behind the viaduct using the railway entrance to the Port Dock Railway Museum and cutting through a few blocks to meet Causeway rd.

Thoughts or suggestions anyone?

[Shuz]

I'm guessing that the trams will diverge from the OH line just before GJR, down Coburg Road, left onto GJR, and then right onto Commercial Road at the GJR/Commerical/Port Roads intersection.

[JamesXander]

I'll tell ya what, the amount of work done on this tram line is really getting to me.

Now I cant say I work in the construction industry, but I do know a family that owns a construction company, and they are filthy rich.

I drive past the tramline everyday, well twice a day I should say. Even more sometimes. The workers are slack, I swear to god they have redug the same dirt ten times opposite the coke factory. They have about 4 lollypop men doing sweet FA on all the time. FFS its been what, 5 months? This project is going to take close to year to achieve. For what 2 kms of light rail. Ah I am all for more trams, but FFS can we atleast get a construction company from say VIC where they could lay that in about a month, and on there rest breaks build us a stadium.

These 40 & 25k speed limits are driving me nuts!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[jk1237]

haha, I dont disagree, it seems to be taking yonks, but the major cost and time in building tramlines is not in the trackwork itself, but all the roadworks, and moving all the underground utilities etc. The actual trackwork could probably be done in a couple of weeks

[Norman]

I think the current crew is from Victoria, or is that just the track laying?

[fabricator]

There was a crew from Victoria for the previous extension, Yarra Tram shirts but could have been technical advisors or contractors who just like that shirt.

[Vee]

haha, I dont disagree, it seems to be taking yonks, but the major cost and time in building tramlines is not in the trackwork itself, but all the roadworks, and moving all the underground utilities etc. The actual trackwork could probably be done in a couple of weeks

Hallelujah! Agree with James too!
Would love to see more tram extensions in the city and near suburbs but this seems to be taking forever.

[Xaragmata]

Much of the current work in Port Road involves installing a new sewer to replace the existing brick-lined trunk down the middle of the
road - no point building a tram line above something that may need replacing soon anyway.