[COM] Flinders Rail Link

[Eurostar]

New Flinders Railway Line
The new Flinders Railway Line and new Flinders and Tonsley Railway Stations will open from early December.

The line is a 650-metre extension of the existing Tonsley train line travelling through to the Flinders medical and university precinct, creating new connections to health, innovation and education via an elevated single track over Sturt Road, Laffers Triangle and Main South Road, with the new Flinders station to become the end of the line.

https://adelaidemetro.com.au/Announceme ... ilway-Line

[PeFe]

I personally have my doubts whether the line will be open early December....if this is the case then good on the builders/contractors however there is a lot of testing still to be done.

And on another matter I can not understand why the Mitchell Park railway station was not upgraded at the same time?

This station looks like it had no maintenance done on it since 1965....what an embarassing dump.

Flinders and Tonsley will be newly built stations, Mitchell Park should have been renovated at the same time. We want to encourage back to public transport and the Flinders line would have looked almost "totally new" except for the decaying structure of Mitchell Park.

[Norman]

The Clovelly Park station has now been demolished, and footpath works around the new Tonsley Station are underway.

[Spotto]

Flinders and Tonsley will be newly built stations, Mitchell Park should have been renovated at the same time. We want to encourage back to public transport and the Flinders line would have looked almost "totally new" except for the decaying structure of Mitchell Park.

Beyond cosmetic issues (landscaping, the shelter, and the "fence") the main problem is the platform height (and width) and the steep ramp to get to the platform. I'm not sure how long it would take to install a raised platform on top of the current one (like Millswood) but since the line is already closed on nights and weekends, it surely wouldn't have been impossible. Then, the entire branch line would be accessibility compliant and well-lit for safety and they wouldn't have to worry about any major upgrading for quite some time.

[mattwinter]

Flinders and Tonsley will be newly built stations, Mitchell Park should have been renovated at the same time. We want to encourage back to public transport and the Flinders line would have looked almost "totally new" except for the decaying structure of Mitchell Park.

Beyond cosmetic issues (landscaping, the shelter, and the "fence") the main problem is the platform height (and width) and the steep ramp to get to the platform. I'm not sure how long it would take to install a raised platform on top of the current one (like Millswood) but since the line is already closed on nights and weekends, it surely wouldn't have been impossible. Then, the entire branch line would be accessibility compliant and well-lit for safety and they wouldn't have to worry about any major upgrading for quite some time.

I think there are a few things with the Mitchell Park station
- There have been a few proposals to move the station either North or South floating around for a while, so they'll want to decide the right spot to put it. Renewal SA has suggested bringing it slightly closer to Tonsley (https://renewalsa.sa.gov.au/wp-content/ ... s_Plan.pdf) but I've seen suggestions before to put it North of Celtic Avenue too which makes a lot more sense IMO.

- They won't just rennovate it in its existing location, they're pretty big on only doing stations on straight bits of track these days.

- They're currently beginning to build the Tonsley Greenway and doing the section from Sturt Road to Tonsley, then as part of Tonsley Village the section of the greenway along there will be built. There are still questions about how they'll continue the greenway North. There have been proposals for crossings to take the greenway back to the West side of the train line North of Tonsley village. There have been investigations about whether a greenway could run right along the train line to Daws road and further. I suspect a decision on Mitchell Park station will form part of that planning.

There was documentation about this available earlier in the year when they were getting community feedback on the part of the greenway along Birch Crescent. Basically doing something with Mitchell Park will be on the cards in the next few years but will take time.

[matthawke]

I personally have my doubts whether the line will be open early December....if this is the case then good on the builders/contractors however there is a lot of testing still to be done.

Your crystal ball was accurate. It is already the end of "early December"; now "mid December" is nigh. The Adelaide Metro announcement from today says:

REMINDER: Non-passenger train services operating on Flinders train line

The existing Tonsley rail line, which currently ends at Clovelly Park Railway Station, is temporarily closed for essential works before it reopens as the Flinders rail line in the coming weeks.

Essential testing and driver training is expected to commence from Saturday 12 December.

Trains will be operating on both the Flinders and Seaford lines. These trains are for testing and training purposes only and are not passenger services. Please continue to use substitute buses during this line closure.

The temporary closure will allow train drivers to familiarise themselves with the new section of track.

The line will remain closed to passenger services until commissioning and driver training can be completed on the new line.

That's right — testing hasn't yet started... Reopening in "the coming weeks".

[adelaide transport]

Opens Monday 28th December.

[Tonsley213]

There was an article in the advertiser a week or so ago stating that thanks to the state lock down, the specialist interstate resources were lost to the project and were working on projects in other states.

[notmichaeljfox]

There was a test service today. https://twitter.com/colinstirling/statu ... 3104?s=21

[Tonsley213]

Testing/driver training commenced yesterday morning

[Norman]

The timetable data files were updated recently and show the first Flinders Line service on Tuesday 29 December. They have been updated from the draft version with all evening and night Seaford line trains running express between Adelaide and Woodlands Park until 11:30pm, and then all stops after that time.

[I Follow PAFC]

Opens Monday 28th December.

New Seaford & Flinders train timetable (PDF 1.3MB)
https://adelaidemetro.com.au/content/do ... _12_20.pdf

[PD2/20]

Opens Monday 28th December.

New Seaford & Flinders train timetable (PDF 1.3MB)
https://adelaidemetro.com.au/content/do ... _12_20.pdf

I note the Flnders service commences on Tuesday 29th December.

[PeFe]

Some photos from the Department of Transport and Infrastructure of test trains on the new Flinders line.

[PeFe]

As part of the Flinders Line construction the spaces beneath the train line have painted with murals.

I wonder how long they will survive without being sprayed over by the taggers.

Photos sourced from the SA Department of Infrastructure and Transport.