News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Trains

[rubberman]

I need to backtrack a little on my previous post.....the next new railway line to open in Adelaide will be the Flinders extension, hopefully 2019 (?)......then Aldinga in 2030 (a big guess)

Rubberman I partially agree with you in the sense that planning is essential but planning for what? More suburban sprawl? No thanks,
urban infill is the way to go.....Adelaide already sprawls 80 kilometres up and down the coast, that really is enough.
..... (snip)...
plenty of opportunity to plan and integrate development around rebuilt train stations.

There's no problem with that if, and only if fringe development is banned somehow. I too, would like to see more infill development.

The problem is that unless fringe development is banned, then you still have to have a plan for how to deal with it, or it just turns into a monster while people pretend it isn't happening. That was the problem with South Road. Everybody said, "Freeway, no way!" All well and good, but then governments of both persuasions pretended that if they weren't going to build a freeway, well what were they going to do to handle the traffic?

So, I ask the same question. If governments aren't going to ban fringe development, what are they going to do to provide for the transport needs of the area?

[SBD]

...

For example the Gawler line.....40 kms of barren wasteland next to the line, train stations that 3rd world countries would reject,
plenty of opportunity to plan and integrate development around rebuilt train stations.

Strange, last time I travelled on the Gawler line I passed freight distribution depots, modern residential and university development, light industry, an airfield, aquifer water recharging schemes, car manufacturing, defence facilities, shopping developments, more residential development, electricity supply facilities, modern stations at Mawson Lakes, Parafield, Chidda, Elizabeth South, Elizabeth, Broadmeadows, Munno Para. Some barren wasteland!

no no, what he's meaning is that the Gawler train line, would by far, have the least amount of housing next to it, of any train line in the country for its length. The amount of barren open space, airports, factories and cemeteries, rail yards, RAAF base etc that surround the stations is huge

There are a number of identified chunks of residential land and development close to the line. Light industry, University, shopping, manufacturing, airfield and Defence all provide employment/destinations that do not require everybody to travel into the City of Adelaide every day or even every month. Is that such a bad thing?

The reason many of the outer developments need to be so car-dependent is that the public transport links across suburbs and feeding in to the rail interchanges is so poor. That provides the chicken-and-egg problem that there is no point providing direct feeder routes because nobody will use them, but nobody will use them because they already have a car per person, and the habit of using it.

[SBD]

Put simply we are dominated by the number of owner/operators of single occupancy vehicles. Any money spent on PT is money not being spent on the quixotic quest to alleviate congestion by building ever wider and smoother roads. These people vote and pollies know they'll cop an electoral backlash if they even propose a $5 bicycle lane sign, let alone put any money towards much needed PT infrastructure. Adelaide has far too many people who when they decide they want to go somewhere they only think CAR

Adelaide has huge park-and-ride carparks at the O-Bahn bus stops. That's people who find the "last mile" bus routes unsatisfactory, since they wouldn't even have to change buses if they caught it from home. My local railway station also has a big carpark.
It's not economic to run big buses, or even small ones with drivers, on or close to the desire-lines of most of those potential passengers at the frequency that they need. So public transport is operated as "it's there as a last resort", which means that anyone who can afford to uses their own car instead.
Once you've bought, registered, insured and garaged a car, the incremental cost of driving it 5km is actually pretty small.

[[Shuz]]

Are they duplicating a part of the Belair line between Lyndon and Eden Hill stations? Went by today and saw workers on the rail corridor marking orange spray paint which appeared to be a track widths wide and the length of a passing loop.

[OlympusAnt]

I thought it was for a fence initially, but if its a second track, it'll definitely help

[SouthAussie94]

Are they duplicating a part of the Belair line between Lyndon and Eden Hill stations? Went by today and saw workers on the rail corridor marking orange spray paint which appeared to be a track widths wide and the length of a passing loop.

Is this on the Lynton or Eden Hills side of the tunnel? And on what side of the rail corridor? Eastern or Western?

[[Shuz]]

Eastern side / Lynton side.

[PD2/20]

Eastern side / Lynton side.

That must place the location of the marking very close to the existing Sleep's Hill loop between Lynton and the tunnel. I don't see the logic of constructing a second loop there.

[Mr Messy]

It appears they are installing signal cable ducts on the other side of the service track. As for why....

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Goodsy]

I dont know if this means anything, but it seems they've stockpilled a lot of new concrete sleepers in the churchill road north depot or whatever that storage area is

[Brucetiki]

I dont know if this means anything, but it seems they've stockpilled a lot of new concrete sleepers in the churchill road north depot or whatever that storage area is

Weren't they slated for the Gawler electrification project and been sitting dormant there for years?

[Goodsy]

I dont know if this means anything, but it seems they've stockpilled a lot of new concrete sleepers in the churchill road north depot or whatever that storage area is

Weren't they slated for the Gawler electrification project and been sitting dormant there for years?

everything that's in there is rusted to hell, but it looks like they've moved more stuff in there recently

[ChillyPhilly]

Is that the area just north of Kilburn station?

[Goodsy]

Is that the area just north of Kilburn station?

It's where the Northfield spur used to run

[PD2/20]

I dont know if this means anything, but it seems they've stockpilled a lot of new concrete sleepers in the churchill road north depot or whatever that storage area is

Weren't they slated for the Gawler electrification project and been sitting dormant there for years?

The main stockpile of dual gauge sleepers for the Rail Revitalisation program was established about 2010 on the Lefevre Peninsula, East of Mersey Road at its South end. Google Earth showas this stock being depleted until 2013 when the final Adelaide - Marion section was relaid. By October 2013 no sleepers remained there at that site. Churchill Road North was used primarily by Laing O'Rourke for the electrification work. The only sections of the network now without concrete sleepers are the Grange branch and the section between the Torrens Bridge and Adelaide Yard. However new sleepers may be required for the South Road Overpass and Torrens Junction projects in the next year or two. Rail lengths are already stored at Croydon for the South Road work.