PRO: Port Adelaide Tramline | $260m

[rev]

The current preferred site plan for the Bowden Village has the tram line going up Drayton and Gibson Streets, to join up with the train line. There's no plan for an underground train station.
http://www.lmc.sa.gov.au/bowdenvillage/ ... px?did=688

That'll be interesting, considering how narrow both those streets are.
As well as that, there is also the fact the line will need to cross Port Road, so there will be a need for traffic lights?
There's a pedestrian crossing(with lights) between Gibson and Drayton on Port Road.

[Punk Rooster]

apologies if this has already been addressed....

why is the tram line being built as a separate lane/passage?

So the trams aren't held up by cars. Admittedly we're not seeing much of a benefit at the moment, as the trams don't have signal priority. But once they get that the difference is likely to be huge.

Why not have it that the Trams get priority during peak hours only (6:30-9:30am, 3:30pm-6:30pm), & outside of that, it's a dual passageway?

wasn't the purpose of having trams on the roads, is to share (like King William St south of Victoria Square)

No, the purpose is to get the trams to where the people want to go, while avoiding expensive land acquisition!

Whilst a huge fan of Melbourne's Tram system (& rueful of losing ours), why didn't we take the opportunity to develop a new transport system?
A monorail perhaps, being built on pylons suspended above the median strip?
Should we not have "looked to the future" instead of the past?

For mine it defeats the purpose.
Also, the design (in my mind) leaves a lot to be desired- it takes too many twists & turns.
Almost as if too much thought was put into the process.

It would be nice to avoid twists and turns - but when it's a choice between having them or encroaching on the Parklands, I'd expect most people would prefer the former.

I think simple would've been best - not widening the tracks so we can build massive shelters etc

I'm more playing Devil's Advocate with my responses- I just think (as usual) we (SA) do something half assed, as we tend to pander to too many minority groups.

[Aidan]

Punk Rooster -

Trams are a big part of the future. In some circumstances monorails are better, but they're usually unsuitable for residential areas. They're a specialist mode, as are O-bahns. But please don't waste everyone's time playing devils advocate - I don't want to waste time explaining to you what you already know, and I doubt everyone else wants to waste time reading it.

[drsmith]

If trams run on the Outer Harbour line will trains run on it as well ?

Has running the tram line further down Port Road and out to Grange been considered ?

[AtD]

There's 1100 posts in this thread. Please keep monorail and other nonsense talk in the visions thread.

[Nathan]

apologies if this has already been addressed....

why is the tram line being built as a separate lane/passage?

So the trams aren't held up by cars. Admittedly we're not seeing much of a benefit at the moment, as the trams don't have signal priority. But once they get that the difference is likely to be huge.

Why not have it that the Trams get priority during peak hours only (6:30-9:30am, 3:30pm-6:30pm), & outside of that, it's a dual passageway?

wasn't the purpose of having trams on the roads, is to share (like King William St south of Victoria Square)

No, the purpose is to get the trams to where the people want to go, while avoiding expensive land acquisition!

Whilst a huge fan of Melbourne's Tram system (& rueful of losing ours), why didn't we take the opportunity to develop a new transport system?
A monorail perhaps, being built on pylons suspended above the median strip?
Should we not have "looked to the future" instead of the past?

For mine it defeats the purpose.
Also, the design (in my mind) leaves a lot to be desired- it takes too many twists & turns.
Almost as if too much thought was put into the process.

It would be nice to avoid twists and turns - but when it's a choice between having them or encroaching on the Parklands, I'd expect most people would prefer the former.

I think simple would've been best - not widening the tracks so we can build massive shelters etc

I'm more playing Devil's Advocate with my responses- I just think (as usual) we (SA) do something half assed, as we tend to pander to too many minority groups.

I hear Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook had big success with their monorails. As others have said, trams are a big part of future transportation development. I believe the tram routes presented in the Bowden Village plans are only speculative by LMC, and there has been no input from the government on the line, so certainly don't count what is drafted as gospel. Having said that, considering the entire area is being completely re-done, I wouldn't worry too much about the widths of the existing roads.

[dsriggs]

I hear Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook had big success with their monorails.

Yessir, there's nothing on Earth like a genuine, bonified, electrified, 6-car monorail!

[BillD]

In the early hours of the 22nd of February 2010, Flexity 110 became the first tram to test Adelaide's Entertainment Centre Extension.

In the attached shot she's about to negotiate the George St intersection on Port Rd at 2am.

The tram motored along at walking speed, accompanied by a number of orange vests. It went into the new terminus, crossed over to the up track and returned slowly to the CBD.
They were planning to do a medium speed run (40k/h) but it was 3am and I had to leave.

Bill.

[Port Adelaide Fan]

Tram line extension to Entertainment Centre to open within weeks

TRAM passengers will be able to travel on the tram line extension between City West and the Entertainment Centre within weeks.

Testing of the new tracks began at 10.20am and will continue for the next few days, followed by a program to familiarise drivers with the new stretch of track.

Trams will operate at various speeds in both directions and stop at several points in order to effectively test all track equipment.

The results of the testing and successful completion of driver training will determine when passenger services on the new line commence.

All the essential track and associated infrastructure is now in place but other work, including landscaping, paving, road re-sealing and line marking will be completed after services start.

The cost of the 2.8km extension was estimated at $100 million in 2008. It will include a "park and ride" facility at the Entertainment Centre for more than 400 vehicles.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/tram-line ... 5832934911

[muzzamo]

The cost of the 2.8km extension was estimated at $100 million in 2008.

What?

[deano91]

After having car troubles this morning, I ended up having to drive into work and turning into North Terrace, I saw the Citadis being tested just near the West Terrace stop. All the workers were standing around taking pictures - "look mummy what I built!!"

[Port Adelaide Fan]

Next Stop - Entertainment Centre Transport officials tested Adelaide's new tramline extension today, with the expectation it will be open within weeks.

http://player.video.news.com.au/adelaid ... 6d3VijjfWN

[The Scooter Guy]

Initial track testing of the Adelaide Entertainment Centre tram extension went well, government officials say.

Citadis and Flexity Classic trams ran on the extension overnight and this morning with ride quality reported to be “very good”, Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure Bobbie-Jean Simons said.

Ms Simons also said no obvious issues were identified during the test run, although full test data analysis is yet to be completed.

The ABC reported Rod Hook from the Office of Major Projects said the early feedback was positive.

"We're testing for the power supply, we're testing that the trams activate the signal system and of course we're testing the integrity of the track and everything's fine," he said.

An official launch date for the service will be made once track testing is completed and driver training of the new track section starts, Ms Simons said.

Trams were tested at different speeds as the first test tram left the City West stop about 1:40am.

A minor grinding sound as the tram left the Adelaide Entertainment Centre was the only noise heard at walking speed.

Under 25 crew were on the test team who walked with the tram and checked for any problems and rode on the tram.

About 30 tram enthusiasts watched test tram Flexity Classic 110 leave the City West stop and many followed with cameras on foot or by car.

[BillD]

More shots from the first day (and night) of testing on the extension to Adelaide's Entertainment Centre:

The first electric-powered vehicle to run over the extension wasn't a tram !
Unfortunately the driver dropped the panto just as I was about to take the picture


An ample supply of orange vests - almost ready to get moving


Flexity 105 testing at lunchtime - on its way back to City-West.
Friends told me that Citadis 203 did the return trip mid-morning.

[shiftaling]

Why dont they create a road from Port Rd [opp. the gaol] through the old SA Water depot site to come out opp. Ice Arena - would help traffic flow.

The last plan I heard for that site was for it to be returned to parklands, I'm sure that proposing a road through it (regardless of the benefit) would not be met positively.

I realise this is off topic, just not that good at the thread management stuff - just thought I'd say that I live right near the former water depot, and you couldn't find a stronger advocate it being returned to parklands (IMBY please!), but if a road were beneficial to traffic flows it's possible that both could be built, as long as the road were not so wide as to take up too much of the site and it was right at the eastern side of the site, leaving the rest to be landscaped as a park.

On topic, very excited to see the trams coming down Port Road at last, I hope they push through with plans to extend it to Port Adelaide and Semaphore. I will definitely use the trams instead of buses or walking to get to the city as long as the frequency is good.