Sensational-Adelaide.com

mattblack wrote:

85trainfan wrote:

No new base layer of ballast has been placed between the Elizabeth Rd bridge and Christies Downs station. There was a group (roughly 10-15 people) inspecting this section today with GPS equipment ( me thinks something is wrong with this section).

Apparently they came across some large sections of boggy and unstable earth which needed remediation work and capping before a new base layer and ballast was able to be laid.

Thanks Mattblack, I thought it seemed weird that that section was left for a bit, then had a lot of "official looking suits" walking it that something was wrong.

Last update for a couple of weeks, as i will be away
At Noarlunga , workers were working on the crossover, with 2 pieces of rail removed on the down track points.
At Christies Downs, workers were thermit welding rails and grinding the rail head flat in places.
Sleeper and Track laying has proceed to the Dyson Rd bridge, with the Up line at the Bridge and the Down line up to the access point between the bridge and O'Sullivan Beach rd.
At lonsdale workers are still installing additional drainage at the Noarlunga end of the station.
drainage work around the Pt Stanvac yard now appears complete. New drains adjacent the Chrysler rd crossing have now been connected to the storm water system.
Along the Field River Bank, The geotextile layer has been layed and workers were placing old ballast back down to form a base for the fresh ballast. While signal crews were running new Cables between the control boxes and the signals.
Work removing the Base layer has proceeded to just south of the Grand Central Ave overpass, with old spoil being loaded into trucks south of Hallett Cove Beach Station.
Hallett Cove beach Station was getting its control room panels lifted into place today, while at the Cove rd overpass geotextile has been layed and old ballast being spread. ( A little Area either side of the bridge has been excavated down further, I'm assuming extra clearance for electrification).
No base layer excavation has taken place north of Hallett Cove station. while at hallett Cove Station, workers were continuing with the installation of screens into the overpass. they look similar to what Melbourne & Sydney bridges have to cover the overhead wires from the overhead walkways.
Works was just starting to get underway at Marino Rocks excavating the Ballast and base layer, with 5 trucks lined up ready to start work after lunch (probably started now as i type this)
At Brighton, not much new work, Apart from crews have started to Re Sleeper the Southern sets of Points.
While standing at the Edward St level crossing i noticed that some of the track left over the crossing is held together with grab bars . I'm hoping this crossing is one of the 3 that are going to be relaid as part of the upgrade

Contract for the new railcars has been signed, and first delivery should take place within the next two years.

New trains are right on track

* Political Reporter Daniel Wills
* From: The Advertiser
* March 31, 2011 12:00AM

FIFTY-FOUR railcars from Adelaide's existing fleet will be electrified and an extra 66 added.

The State Government yesterday signed a contract with Bombardier Transportation Australia as part of a $269 million deal to upgrade the network and boost the system's carrying capacity by 540 people.

Transport Minister Pat Conlon also released images of the trains, which will be painted blue and travel at a maximum 110km/h.

The 66 new A-City railcars will be operational within two years and the first in Australia to meet tough new national safety guidelines.

Mr Conlon said the new railcars would be assembled as 22 three-car trains and specially designed for Adelaide's upgraded electric network.

They will seat around 240 passengers and provide standing room for another 300.

"The A-City will be the first railcar in Australia to use an advanced best practice crash protection system now in use in Europe and will be a wide body train providing more room for passengers," Mr Conlon said.

Other features will include enhanced security systems, airconditioning and disability access and a passenger emergency intercom at each doorway.

They will also be fitted with a smartcard ticketing system.

The 66 new railcars will be complemented by an on-going program to refurbish 70 vehicles while converting 54 to electric propulsion.

"Our new fleet will service an electrified network and be the backbone of a state-of-the-art, modern and integrated public transport system, delivering the best train, tram and bus services," Mr Conlon said.

The Government's multi-billion-dollar overhaul of public transport was dealt a blow last month when $61 million was pulled from the planned O-Bahn extension to help rebuild Queensland in the wake of natural disasters.

The Federal Government announced almost $1 billion in cuts to infrastructure projects to help fund the $5.6 billion rebuilding program.

Interesting... the report specifically mentions a wide body, but the illustration shows a rather narrow body!

The lack of end doors is disappointing.

I like the new colour scheme, elegant in it's simplicity. Doors would need to be yellow though, to meet Australian safety requirements.. well that's the crap they told us in Sydney when every train got painted yellow.

like the name A-City too, although because it looks like an Electric version of the Vlocitys with driver's cabin doors, i think it could end up being called 'A/Locity'

Hi all
An update of progress on the Noarlunga rail line Upgrade.
A ballast regulator and Tamper were working near the O'sullivan's Beach Rd overpass today. Sleepers and Track is laid all the way to the Cove Rd overpass, (including through the Hallett Cove Beach Station, now it looks like a complete station again ) Sleepers were being laid between the Cove rd overpass and Hallett Cove station.
At Hallett Cove, the base layer Ballast was being laid through the platform, with 6 trucks in operation at once (3 loading and 3 dumping) progress was made very quickly and the base was level within 2 hrs
Between Hallett cove and Marino Rocks, the new base layer has been layed and is awaiting sleepers.
At Marino Rocks, drainage crews were working either side of the level crossing, and the crossing on the platform side of the level crossing was being removed today.
At Marino, The ballast stockpile was getting bigger, with multiple trucks dumping more ballast at the site.
At Brighton, the platforms have had all the ballast removed and was being leveled today. Contractors were unloading new Plasterboard for the station buildings today, while work was continuing on shoring up the structure. (With all the external walls gone, all the internal equipment has remained inside, this includes, ctc equipment, the kiosk fixtures and the toilets )

Hi All
An update of works on the Noarlunga rebuild, Its a rather large post this week, so i hope some don't mind

(This post was written on anther website, by Me, yesterday)
Tamper and Ballast regulator were working down the Field River Bank today, with the Up line all tamped up until the curve on the bank, and the line ploughed and the edges leveled until the Myer Rd Overpass.
Ballasting was continuing on the Down line between the Grand Central Ave overpass and Hallett Cove Beach station. Loading of the ballast hoppers is still taking place at the Field River Bank work site until the rails are welded up to the site just south of Hallett Cove Station.
Welding crews were welding rails to the north of Hallett Cove Beach today, with 3 crews working simultaneously.
The Down line has sleepers and rail up to the old Hallett Cove Crossovers, while the Up line has rail to about halfway between Hallett Cove and The Cove Rd overpass, while sleepers were laid to Hallett Cove Station.
Laying of sleepers on the Down line was about a 1/4 of the way between hallett Cove and Marino Rocks.
At Marino Rocks, drainage crews have finished the drainage through the station, and the base layer of ballast was being laid and leveled. Crews had dug trenches for more drainage/cables around the level crossing. (i'm assuming the level crossing will be upgraded later??)
At Marino, crews have now begun removing the Asbestos cladding from the station building, while Drainage crews were completing their works around the station.
At seacliff station, no new work was noticed, with the drainage on the Up line platform still half completed.
At Brighton, crews were laying the base layer for the southern set of points, with numerous trucks dumping dolomite. Work was continuing on the station shelters, with crews re paneling the kiosk building with cement sheeting. Signal crews have placed a new heavy duty cable right across the northern yard.
The middle platform track was today receiving Geo textile matting and its first base layer was about to be started when i left.


Some photo's from this week's work's

Entrance to the Stabling Yard at Pt Stanvac.


Taming the Down line along the Field River Bank.


Ballast Regulator spreading ballast near Hallett Cove Beach.


Welding crew working through Hallett Cove Beach.


Crews working on removing Asbestos sheeting from Marino Station shelter.


Preparing the Track Bed for the southern set of Points at Brighton.


Workers replacing the Fibre Cement sheeting on the Brighton Kiosk and shelter.

Hi all
Anther week goes by and getting closer to the completion date of the Noarlunga Line rebuild between Brighton and Noarlunga Centre.
With this weekend seeing the first level crossing upgrade. Large variable message boards are in place on Christies Rd, advising of the Level Crossing closure on the 20th to 23rd may, with track panels sitting in the adjacent yard to the crossing.
Crews were working around the Myer rd worksite today, Excavators were clearing a drain alongside the Up line, While a Tamper and Ballast Regulator received a service on the Down line. Crews are still using this worksite to load the ballast hoppers, with ballasting taking place just north of Hallett Cove Station.( I was told this site was used, because it can hold a huge amount of ballast on site and its the only place Large trucks can access easily without multiple sharp turns.) rather a long way to go for a small amount of ballast in my opinion.
The Up line now has Sleepers and Rail all the way to the Marino worksite, while the Down line was getting Sleepers between Marino and Marino Rocks, with the rail up the Jervois Tce level crossing.
Tractors and Excavators were laying out the Rail in the middle of the track bed between the Marino worksite and Maitlaid Tce
Base Layer ballast has been laid to the Maitlaid Tce level crossing. And crews were laying ballast between the Up platform at seacliff Station and the pedestrian underpass at Portland St.
At Shoreham Rd, Drainage crews were placing storm water pipes under the road, and across both lines, as-well as laying conduits for cables in the same pit
At Brighton, Work was continuing on the shelters, with the main building now having a complete roof on, and the support structure of the outside of the roof having new beams welded in place.
the shelter on Platform 1 & 2 was getting its new roof today, while one end already had it's cladding in place.
In the Northern yard, more Drainage crews were installing Drainage down the sides of the lines, as well as digging a hole for pipes down the Middle Platform easement.

When are they installing the poles and overhead cables for the electrification of the line?

If not now, guess it will happen later on, which means closing down the track for another 6 months. sigh.

HeapsGood wrote:When are they installing the poles and overhead cables for the electrification of the line?

If not now, guess it will happen later on, which means closing down the track for another 6 months. sigh.

The electrification process shouldn't involve closing down the line full time while the infrastructure is put in place. It's possible to do it without closing the line full time while it takes place because the existing trains can continue run on the existing infrastructure. It was recently done in Melbourne's northern suburbs where the suburban rail service was being extended from Broadmeadows to Craigieburn, while the regional V/Line trains continued to operate on the existing tracks as the electrical systems, stanchions and catenary were installed.

I don't understand why then they couldn't do the same thing while they're re-sleepering the tracks? Surely it couldn't have been so hard to have segments of the line, with one track open with passing loops every so often. Sure, it'd inconvenience a trip to Noarlunga by an extra 15 minutes or so, but it's got to be better than closing half the line down for a whole 6 months!

[Shuz] wrote:I don't understand why then they couldn't do the same thing while they're re-sleepering the tracks? Surely it couldn't have been so hard to have segments of the line, with one track open with passing loops every so often. Sure, it'd inconvenience a trip to Noarlunga by an extra 15 minutes or so, but it's got to be better than closing half the line down for a whole 6 months!

The signalling along the Noarlunga Line doesn't allow for that sort of operation. And at some point both tracks would need to be closed anyway to allow the crossovers to be replaced.

[Shuz] wrote:I don't understand why then they couldn't do the same thing while they're re-sleepering the tracks? Surely it couldn't have been so hard to have segments of the line, with one track open with passing loops every so often. Sure, it'd inconvenience a trip to Noarlunga by an extra 15 minutes or so, but it's got to be better than closing half the line down for a whole 6 months!

Of course it could have been done that way.

However, they need to know how to do it that way. I suggest that along with many other organisations in this country, they lost that ability and knowledge during the nineties when the philosophy was that all an organisation needed was to have good managers. If any work of a technical nature was required, then you could just 'hire it in'. The fallacy in this was pointed out by (amongst others) the Institution of Engineers, Australia. This advice was ignored, and now we have to make do with whatever we can get. In this case, the various private sector contractors know how to build track on greenfield sites (ie one where no trains or trams are running) and do it well, I might add. However, they do not have the expertise to work safely and expeditiously in between trains to do the work while keeping the service running. Basically there is no expertise to 'hire in' to do as you suggest. So sad, too bad. That decision to eliminate in-house technical knowledge was taken years ago, and we have to live with it.

More importantly: it's cheaper this way. Workers don't have to worry about dodging express trains and such.