Rail transport in South Australia

Influenced by Queensland Railway's successful adoption of the narrow gauge for cost reasons (opened 1865), and influenced by the advocacy of people such as Abraham Fitzgibbon South Australia changed the gauge of the Port Wakefield line in the middle of construction. The Port Wakefield line, opened 1870, was originally horse drawn.

Because the narrow gauge lines of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) started out as isolated lines from independent ports at Port Wakefield, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Port Broughton, Beachport, Kingston SE and Wallaroo, and a private tramway from Whyalla, the problems of the nascent break of gauge was not immediately apparent. When the broad and narrow systems finally met at Hamley Bridge, Terowie, Wolseley and Mount Gambier endless complaints started. There may have been even more breaks of gauge, as the original bridge at Murray Bridge was designed for narrow gauge.[2][3]

The horse-drawn narrow gauge line at Port Broughton on the Yorke Peninsula was never connected to the main system.

The lines on the Eyre Peninsula Railway and throughout the mid-north were built to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge. Once the narrow gauge from Port Pirie to Broken Hill was converted to standard gauge, the narrow gauge from Terowie was converted to broad gauge to Peterborough. Peterborough became the change of gauge station for Broken Hill Adelaide express. The narrow gauge line was retained north from Peterborough to Quorn.

The main interstate links from Adelaide to Perth, Darwin, Melbourne, and Sydney are all of 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge.

The South Line, through the Adelaide Hills, was opened to Aldgate, Nairne in 1883, Murray Bridge in 1884 and Bordertown and Serviceton, Victoria, connecting with Victorian Railways in 1887. This line was standardised in 1995.

A branch line was built to Marino in 1913, and extended to Willunga in 1915. The section from Hallett Cove to Willunga was closed in 1969. In the 1970s the line was extended south from Hallett Cove, becoming what is now the Adelaide Metro Seaford railway line. It reached Christie Downs in 1976, Noarlunga Centre in 1978, with a further extension to Seaford in 2014.

The beginnings of the Victor Harbor line was a horse-drawn broad (1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)) gauge tramway built from the port of Goolwa on the Murray River to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot in 1854. This line was used to move freight between the shallow-draft vessels navigating the Murray, and coastal and ocean-going vessels, without either having to traverse the narrow and shallow mouth of the river with unpredictable currents. It was later extended from Port Elliot to Victor Harbor in 1864 and from Goolwa to Strathalbyn in 1869. It was extended to Mount Barker Junction on the South Line in 1884 and strengthened to carry steam trains.

A branch from the South Line between the Mount Lofty Ranges and Murray River was built to Monarto and Cambrai in 1886. It was shortened to Apamurra near Palmer before being converted then closed briefly due to the standardisation of the Adelaide – Melbourne line in 1995. The line was then converted to standard gauge later in 1995 until it then closed again in 2005.

In the Murray Mallee, the Pinnaroo line was built from Tailem Bend to Pinnaroo in 1906. This was connected with the Victorian Railways at the Victorian border and Ouyen by 1915. The South Australian part of this line was converted to standard gauge in 1998 to reconnect it with the Adelaide – Melbourne line. This created a break-of-gauge at Pinnaroo. The last traffic on the line was transporting grain from silos to Port Adelaide. Viterra announced that no more grain would be carried by rail on this line after 31 July 2015, with the 2015 harvest to be entirely transported by road.[5]

The Barmera railway line opened from Tailem Bend through Karoonda to Wanbi on 6 January 1913, extended to Paruna on 1 May and Meribah on 7 May 1913 (both in the Brown's Well district).[6] Even while this line was still being built, the Government of South Australia approved several spur lines from it to open up over a million acres of farmland. These were:[7][8]

• Waikerie railway line Karoonda north to Waikerie (opened December 1914)[9]closed 14 March 1990 to Galga, 4 March 1994 to Karoonda[8]
• Alawoona north to Loxton (opened February 1914)[9] closed 2015[5]
• Brown's Well north to Paringa (opened October 1913),[9] closed to Alawoona December 1990 then Tailem Bend August 2015
• The Peebinga railway line east from Karoonda covering the gap between the Pinnaroo and Brown's Well lines, opened 18 December 1914, closed 7 December 1990.[8]

The government expected these lines to not recover the cost in the short term, but to open up land for farming wheat to "strengthen the backbone of South Australia".[7] They were built using second-hand rails, and were the first in the state to use steel sleepers.[7]

Later, the Moorook railway line was opened from Wanbi to Yinkanie (near Moorook) in September 1925,[10] but closed in 1971.[11] In 1928 the line was opened from Paringa to Renmark and Barmera; it closed in 1990.

The last of these lines was the Loxton railway line which was converted to standard gauge in 1998. It closed with the transfer of the grain traffic to road after July 2015. Viterra announced that no more grain would be carried by rail in the region after 31 July 2015, with the 2015 harvest to be entirely transported by road.[5]

South Australian Railways V class No. 9 commenced service on the Kingston-Naracoorte railway (3′6″) in early 1877. Transferred to northern division of S.A.R. in 1888, retired in 1953 (on display in Naracoorte).

In 1876 a narrow 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge line known as the Kingston-Naracoorte railway line was built from Kingston SE to Naracoorte. In 1879, a railway was built between Beachport, Millicent and Mount Gambier. In 1887 they were linked by a line from Mount Gambier to Naracoorte and Wolseley on the broad gauge Melbourne–Adelaide railway, creating a break-of-gauge junction at Wolseley. It later had a branch line added from Wandilo to Glencoe.[12]

The Mount Gambier-Heywood railway line, a broad gauge line, was opened between Mount Gambier and Heywood near Portland in 1917. From 1953 to 1956, the southeastern lines were converted to broad gauge, with the exception of the Beachport – Millicent and the Wandilo – Glencoe line, which were closed down in 1957. The Kingston – Naracoorte was closed on 28 November 1987. The other southeastern lines, including the line to Heywood, have been out of use since the standardisation of the Adelaide – Melbourne and Maroona – Portland lines on 12 April 1995. There are regular calls for their standardisation.

In 1857 the 42 km Gawler line was built to Gawler station, which was rural at the time, and extended to Roseworthy, Kapunda in 1860. The main line left the Kapunda branch at Roseworthy and proceeded to Hamley Bridge, Riverton, Burra in 1870. The Kapunda branch was extended to Morgan in 1878. The Burra line was extended to Terowie in 1880.

The Barossa Valley railway line was built from Gawler Junction, north of Gawler station, through what is now Gawler Central station, to Nuriootpa and Angaston in the Barossa Valley in 1911. A further branch was constructed from Nuriootpa to Stockwell and Truro. The Penrice branch to the quarry from near Stockwell was the last destination to operate beyond Gawler Central.

A branch line was built from Riverton to Clare in 1919 and Spalding in 1922.[13] This line was lifted in the early 80s and parts of it have been restored as the Rattler Trail (Riverton to Auburn) and Riesling Trail (Auburn to Clare), a bicycle and walking trail through the Clare Valley.

In 1925, a broad gauge line was built from Salisbury to Redhill and in 1937, it was extended to Port Pirie to meet the extension of the standard gauge from Port Augusta. This line was converted to standard gauge in 1982, including a deviation at the northern end to move the rail junction from Port Pirie to Crystal Brook.

The lines in the Mid North (generally north of Goyder's Line, which is the limit of 10" annual rainfall) were built to narrow gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in).

Broad-gauge tracks at the abandoned cargo rail station near the port in Wallaroo.

The first narrow gauge line ran from Port Wakefield to Hoyleton, opened in 1870 and branched from Balaklava to Hamley Bridge in 1878, creating Australia's first break-of-gauge on the government railways.[14]

A horse-drawn tramway was built by the Kadina and Wallaroo Railway and Pier Company between Wallaroo and Kadina in 1862 and extended to Moonta in 1866. This was acquired by the South Australian Railways in 1877 and a new narrow gauge line was built along its route and connected to Port Wakefield in about 1878. A line was built from Brinkworth to Snowtown, Bute and Kadina in 1879. These lines were converted to broad gauge in 1927.[15] All the lines west of the Adelaide–Crystal Brook standard gauge line and the line from Snowtown to Brinkworth were closed after the Adelaide – Crystal Brook line was opened in 1982, despite proposals to convert some of them to standard gauge.

There are calls to convert the Wolseley to Mount Gambier line to standard gauge. This partly reflects the lifting of restriction on the road transportation of grain Australia-wide that followed recommendations of the 1986-88 Royal Commission into grain storage, handling and transport. This particularly affected South Australian railways because of the short distances between the growing areas and its various wheat exporting ports. The Snowtown to Wallaroo Broad Gauge was converted to Dual Gauge (Standard/Broad) during the late 1980s.

A line was built from Balaklava to Brinkworth and Gladstone by 1880 and later extended to Wilmington. The Hamley Bridge – Balaklava – Brinkworth – Gladstone line was converted to broad gauge in 1927, making Gladstone a break-of-gauge junction. In 1969, when the line from Port Pirie to Broken Hill was converted to standard gauge, Gladstone became a three-gauge break-of-gauge junction (together with Peterborough and succeeding Port Pirie, which had been reduced to two gauges). In the 1980s, the broad gauge line north of Balaklava and the narrow gauge line were closed, leaving Gladstone as a purely standard gauge station.

A narrow gauge line was built from Terowie to Peterborough in 1881, creating a break-of-gauge at Terowie, although the enforced train change created an opportunity for General Douglas MacArthur to deliver his famous line "I shall return" at Terowie station on 20 March 1942. The break-of-gauge was not overcome until the Terowie – Peterborough line was converted to broad (1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)) gauge in 1970, to meet new the standard gauge from Port Pirie to Broken Hill, but it was abandoned by 1988.

The narrow gauge line was extended to Orroroo also in 1881 and Quorn in 1882, connecting with the new line from Port Augusta. This line has now been abandoned.

A narrow gauge railway was built from Port Pirie to Gladstone, Peterborough and Broken Hill, in 1888 to serve the Broken Hill silver and lead mine, which was becoming the largest and richest of its kind in the world. Since the New South Wales Government would not allow the South Australia railway to cross the border, the last 30 km was built by a private company as a tramway, the Silverton Tramway from Cockburn to Silverton and Broken Hill. In 1970 the line was converted to standard gauge, completing the standard transcontinental gauge line from Sydney to Perth.[16]

The Great Northern Railway was completed from Port Augusta across the Pichi Richi Pass to Quorn in 1879, Hergott Springs (now known as Marree) in 1883 and Oodnadatta in 1891. It was extended to Alice Springs by the Commonwealth Railways in 1929, when it was renamed the Central Australia Railway.

In 1957, the new standard gauge line was built from Stirling North (near Port Augusta) to Marree on a new alignment west of the Flinders Ranges and the narrow gauge line between Hawker and Marree was abandoned. The remainder of the narrow gauge line between Stirling North, Quorn and Hawker was abandoned in 1972, although the Stirling North – Quorn section has been taken over by the Pichi Richi tourist railway (with a more recent extension into the town of Port Augusta completed in 2001).[17] The narrow gauge line from Marree to Alice Springs was abandoned with the opening of the new standard gauge railway from Tarcoola to Alice Springs in 1980. The standard gauge line from Stirling North has since been abandoned north of the Leigh Creek Coalfield.

The Eyre Peninsula Railway was built to narrow gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) as their primary purpose was to promote the development of the area.

Construction started with a railway between Port Lincoln and Cummins, opened in 1907. Growth of the network continued through until the 1950s. The system covers some 800 route kilometres, of lightly built permanent way.[18]

BHP developed two separate systems.

The BHP Whyalla Tramway from the Whyalla Steelworks (3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)) for ore haulage, and the Coffin Bay Tramway, a standard gauge from Proper Bay to Coffin Bay on Southern Eyre Peninsula for mineral sand haulage. The tramway operated from 1966 and was closed in 1989, with the tracks being removed in 2000.

NSU class diesel locomotive on display at Marree station

The Northern Territory was part of South Australia from 1863 to 1911, when it was transferred to Commonwealth control.

The Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway was a narrow gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) railway and ran from Darwin, once known as Palmerston, to Pine Creek.

The John Cox Bray Government in South Australia introduced the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway Bill in 1883. The £959,300 contract went to C & E Millar of Melbourne on the proviso that they could use coolie labour. The line reached Pine Creek in 1888 and was officially opened on 30 September 1889. Singhalese and Indian gangs did the grubbing and earthwork and 3,000 Chinese labourers laid over 1 km of track per day. A total of 310 bridges and flood openings were built.

The Commonwealth Government took over the line in 1911 and renamed it the Northern Territory Railway. The line was extended to Katherine in 1917. Further extensions in the 1920s saw it eventually reach Birdum, just south of Larrimah, in 1929, when it was further renamed the North Australia Railway, to distinguish it from the Central Australia Railway, which reached Alice Springs from the south in the same year.

Although a railway line from Alice Springs to Darwin had been discussed for many years, the North Australia Railway was closed in 1976. However eventually the standard gauge Adelaide to Darwin Railway was finally completed on 17 September 2003 with the line between Alice Springs and Darwin. The first freight train reached Darwin on 17 January 2004.

Adelaide's metropolitan rail network was the last of Australia's five major cities to be electrified. Almost $500 million in funding has been provided in the 2008-09 State Budget for electrification and gauge conversion.[19]

However, not all lines have finished electrification, and at this stage, the Belair line will not be electrified.[20]

In Adelaide, concrete sleepers, installed since the 1990s are of a slightly more expensive gauge convertible type to facilitate the conversion.

• Morgan railway line: Adelaide – Kapunda (1860), extended to Morgan in 1878, with junctions at Gawler and Roseworthy (now closed and dismantled beyond Kapunda)
• Port Wakefield railway line: Port Wakefield – Balaklava – Hoyleton (opened 1870, closed and dismantled)
• Port Broughton railway line: Port Broughton – Mundoora (1876) was horse-drawn uphill, and gravity-powered to carry bagged wheat down to the port
• Peterborough railway line: Roseworthy – Burra (1870), later extended to Terowie (1880), then Peterborough, with junctions at Hamley Bridge and Riverton (now closed and dismantled beyond Burra)
• Gladstone railway line: Hamley Bridge – Balaklava, continuing through Brinkworth to Gladstone (now closed and dismantled beyond Balaklava)
• Port Wakefield–Moonta railway line: Port Wakefield – Kadina – Wallaroo – Moonta (1862 horse-drawn between Wallaroo and Kadina, 1878 to Port Wakefield, now closed)
• Brinkworth–Kadina railway line: Brinkworth – Snowtown – Bute – Kadina (1879, now closed)
• Barossa Valley railway line: Gawler to Penrice and Angaston in the Barossa Valley, the Penrice Stone Train carried limestone from a quarry at Penrice to soda works at Osborne, near Port Adelaide until June 2014[21] – (now mothballed)
• Spalding railway line: Riverton to Clare and Spalding – closed, the easement is now used for the Riesling and Rattler rail trails through the lower Mid North and Clare Valley
• Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line (part): Adelaide – Port Pirie

• Mount Pleasant line (1918): Balhannah to Mount Pleasant via Oakbank, Woodside, Mount Torrens and Birdwood. Closed 1963 (tracks have since been totally removed)
• Victor Harbor line: Mount Barker to Goolwa and Victor Harbor
  • Milang line (1884–1968): Sandergrove to Milang via Nurragi. A 13 kilometre spur line opened in 1884 and closed in 1970 (line dismantled)
• Sedan line (1919): Monarto South north to Sedan (shortened to Apamurra before being closed). The rails from that section were reused in 2001 by the Pichi Richi Railway to extend their narrow gauge track from Stirling North to Port Augusta[22][23][24]
• Pinnaroo line (1907): Tailem Bend (south east of Murray Bridge) to Pinnaroo continuing into Victoria to Ouyen (mothballed in 2015)
• Barmera railway line (1913): Tailem Bend – Karoonda – Meribah with later extensions to Paringa (Oct 1913), Renmark and Barmera(closed and dismantled)
  • Waikerie line: Karoonda to Waikerie (closed and dismantled)
  • Moorook line: Wanbi – Yinkanie (near Moorook) (Closed and dismantled)
  • Loxton line: Alawoona – Loxton (mothballed in 2015)
  • Peebinga line: Karoonda – Peebinga (near the state border between the Brown's Well district and Pinnaroo)
• Mount Gambier line: Wolseley (between Bordertown and the state border) through Naracoorte to Mount Gamber. (closed pending standard gauge conversion)
  • Naracoorte – Kingston SE opened 1877, now closed and dismantled.
  • Wandilo – Glencoe opened 1904, now closed and dismantled. **Mount Gambier – Beachport to the west via Tantanoola and Millicent. Opened 1878, now closed and dismantled from Adelaide Road, Millicent to Beachport.
  • Mount Gambier – Heywood to the east, linking into the Victorian network, near Portland. (closed pending standard gauge conversion)

• Port Pirie – Broken Hill (in stages from 1875, completed 1888, standard gauge since 1970)
• Central Australia Railway: Port Augusta – Quorn (1879) – Marree (1883) – Oodnadatta (1891) – Alice Springs (1929) (narrow gauge) – closed in 1980
• Peterborough–Quorn railway line: Peterborough – Port Augusta via Orroroo and Quorn (1881)
• Port Pirie – Port Augusta (1937)
• Stirling North to Marree line (standard gauge) (1957) replaced the narrow gauge line to Marree. Used to haul coal from Leigh Creek to power stations at Port Augusta until 2016.
• Trans-Australian Railway: Port Augusta – Kalgoorlie, Western Australia – the first standard gauge line, built in 1917
• Port Augusta to Whyalla line (1972) standard gauge
• Tarcoola-Alice Springs line: Tarcoola – Alice Springs (1980)

One Rail Australia (ORA) own the Eyre Peninsula Railway lines

• Port Lincoln – Thevenard (west of Ceduna) with junctions at Cummins and Yeelanna.
• Thevenard to Penong (Via Kevin) (Kevin – Penong Surrendered to the Minister for Transport.no longer serviceable)
• Cummins – Buckleboo (north of Kimba) (Kimba – Buckleboo Dormant)
• Yeelanna – Kapinnie (Dormant)

ORA manage the BHP Whyalla Tramway

• Whyalla – Iron Knob (private – owned by Arrium) – narrow gauge, opened 1901, carries iron ore
• Whyalla (109 km) – Iron Baron (private – owned by Liberty House Group) opened 1930, extended to Iron Duke in 1990

BHP owned the Coffin Bay Tramway

• Proper Bay (near Port Lincoln) to Coffin Bay to carry lime sand between 1960 and 1989[25]