Tram link to North Adelaide (and possibly Prospect)?

[HeapsGood]

Could a tram link up to North Adelaide (and possibly running up to Prospect) be sucessfully done? What are the hurdles or problems that you can forsee?

Obviously there is a steep gradient up O'Connell street near the Womens and childrens hospital (but not impossible as San Francisco does this.)

I'd like to hear the forum experts here weigh up their opinions.

[Aidan]

Could a tram link up to North Adelaide (and possibly running up to Prospect) be sucessfully done? What are the hurdles or problems that you can forsee?

Obviously there is a steep gradient up O'Connell street near the Womens and childrens hospital (but not impossible as San Francisco does this.)

I'd like to hear the forum experts here weigh up their opinions.

Yes it could be. But even with innovations like low profile track it's likely to be expensive.

North Adelaide alone would attract too few passengers, and it already has frequent bus services. Continuing along Prospect Road would be better as it would enable the existing bus service to be discontinued. But there's not much at the Blair Athol end, so to keep ridership high on the entire route it would make sense to extend it to Mawson Lakes (despite the fact that this would greatly increase the construction cost).

Don't worry too much about the steep gradients - trams have been that way before, and they could again.

San Francisco's rather irrelevant in this case - the trams that handle the really steep gradients there are cable hauled - a completely different technology. Their electric trams aren't any better at hill climbing than those of other cities, and they use tunnels to avoid steep gradients and heavy traffic.

Of course tunnels can be used for that here too, but it would push the construction cost up even more.

[HeapsGood]

I always thought the idea of continuing the track past North tce made sense, you could put stations at Adelaide Oval, Womens and childrens and a couple more stations in North Adelaide to service the retail/pubs/cafes/local residents. You could include North Adelaide as part of free inter city travel, thereby encouraging more people to visit North Adelaide. It would be great for local residents/businesses.

Then move the track into Prospect to service this area.

[MessiahAndrw]

Could a tram link up to North Adelaide (and possibly running up to Prospect) be sucessfully done?

It sure is possible, and it was possible more than 60 years ago too! Here is a map of the old Adelaide tramway system on 1952 before they started pulling it up:


I would love to see the old network restored!

[spiller]

that is truly unbelievable. I knew there were more trams back then but i had no idea it was that extensive! ahhhh what were they thinking when they pulled it up (no need for anyone to answer that question, i know the reasons).

[ml69]

I can see why only the Glenelg tram was retained, its the only one not running down a road (except the Jetty Rd bit). Real shame.

[Omicron]

They could reinstate that network street for street and you'd hardly hear an argument from me. It is interesting to consider, of course, that the West Lakes - Port Adelaide extension is longer than every other line on that map - an intriguing choice as the top priority.