The Flinders railway line is a suburban commuter line in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, that branches off the
Seaford line at
Mitchell Park, and ends opposite Science Park, close to the
Flinders University and the
Flinders Medical Centre
Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) is a major public tertiary hospital and teaching school, co-located with Flinders University and the 130 bed Flinders Private Hospital located at Bedford Park, South Australia. It opened in 1976. It serves as the t ...
. The line is single track for most of its length, from Celtic Avenue, near
Mitchell Park station, to its terminus.
History
The railway was constructed between 1965 and 1966, as a branch line from
Woodlands Park railway station
Woodlands Park railway station is the junction station for the Seaford railway line, Seaford and Flinders railway line, Flinders lines.Willunga railway line
The Willunga railway line ran through the southern Adelaide suburbs from Adelaide railway station to Willunga, South Australia, Willunga, over long (longer than the current Gawler railway line, Gawler line, ). The line was opened in Willunga by ...
, to serve the new
Chrysler assembly plant at
Clovelly Park. Construction of the plant had commenced in 1963, and the assembly line was opened in October 1964, remaining operational until it was closed in March 2008. Upon opening, the Tonsley line served three stations: Mitchell Park, Clovelly Park, and the original Tonsley station.
Re-sleepering and electrification
From 27 February 2012, the line between Woodlands Park and Tonsley was closed for reconstruction. During the closure, the line was duplicated between Tonsley Junction and
Mitchell Park station, the track was re-sleepered with
dual gauge sleepers
''Sleepers'' is a 1996 American legal crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 book of the same name. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin H ...
to allow for the line to be converted to
standard gauge at a future date, and the entire line electrified.
[Rail revitalisation Tonsley line](_blank)
Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure The closure, initially planned to last one year, was extended until September 2013, to allow the electrification of the line, along with the
Noarlunga Centre line. In late 2013, a plan was announced to convert the line to a
double-track railway
A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.
Overview
In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...
, to be funded through joint State and Federal initiatives, but the incoming Federal government announced it would be changing their focus to roads, and cut funding. Accordingly, with $18 million having been spent on the project, the future of the line was unclear. It eventually reopened on 5 May 2014, more than two years after closure.
Flinders extension
In July 2008, a feasibility study was commissioned by the government to extend the line to
Flinders Medical Centre
Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) is a major public tertiary hospital and teaching school, co-located with Flinders University and the 130 bed Flinders Private Hospital located at Bedford Park, South Australia. It opened in 1976. It serves as the t ...
. On 13 May 2016, as part of its
2016 federal election campaign, the
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
pledged $43 million for the project. The State
Labor Party committed $42 million towards the project, the estimated cost of which was $86 million. The extension, referred to as the ''Flinders Link Project'', would extend the line by 650 metres and replace the Tonsley station terminus on Sturt Road with a new terminus station adjacent to Flinders Medical Centre. An elevated single track, with a pedestrian and bike path, was to begin just north of the original Tonsley station site, and cross Sturt Road, Laffer's Triangle and Main South Road, before terminating at
Flinders station. Clovelly Park station would be replaced by a relocated Tonsley station as part of the extension project.
[Etheridge, Michelle. (28 February 2018). "New station on track", '' CoastCity Weekly'', p5.]
The original Tonsley station was closed after the final service on 28 June 2019, allowing construction of the rail overpass at the station site. Services terminated at Clovelly Park station until the extension was completed. Built concurrently with the adjacent Darlington Upgrade for the
Southern Expressway, major works took place from July 2019 to October 2020. The line was temporarily closed after the last service on 20 November 2020 for the extension to be commissioned, and fully reopened on 29 December. The operating hours of the line were expanded to include weekday nights and weekends. Before that, the line only ran between 6:30 am and 7:30 pm on weekdays, and was closed on weeknights and weekends.
Line guide
Former stations
* - opened 1966, closed 2020.
* – original station opened 1966, closed 2019.
Services
Trains to and from Adelaide operate every 20 minutes during weekday peak periods, every 30 minutes off-peak on weekdays, and on weekends into the late evening. Before the extension to Flinders, services operated between 6.30 am and 7.30 pm on weekdays only. Services were only extended to operate during weekday off-peak periods in 2004. Stations between
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
and
Woodlands Park are also served by
Seaford line trains, and stations between Adelaide and
Goodwood are also served by
Belair line trains. Prior to 2014, most trains were operated by
3000 class railcar
The 3000/3100 class are a class of diesel railcars operated by the State Transport Authority and its successors in Adelaide. They were built by Comeng and Clyde Engineering between 1987 and 1996 and are the workhorse of the non-electrified subu ...
s, augmented at times by
2000 class railcar
The 2000/2100 class were a class of diesel railcars operated by the State Transport Authority and its successors in Adelaide. They were built by Comeng in Granville, New South Wales in 1979–1980.
History
The 2000/2100 class were self-prop ...
s. Following the electrification of the line, the latter were no longer authorised to operate on the line
["Limited life for 2000 class Jumbo railcars" '']Railway Digest
''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways of Australia.
Overview
The magazine's publisher is the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was published in ...
'' January 2015 page 20 and they were retired from service in 2015. The line is now operated by
A-City electric multiple units.
Gallery
File:Clovelly Park station.JPG, Former Clovelly Park station in 2007, now demolished
File:TonsleyStation.JPG, Former Tonsley station in 2009, now demolished
File:Tonsley_Station_Adelaide.jpg, Tonsley station in 2020
File:Flinders_Station_Adelaide.jpg, Flinders station in 2020
References
External links
* https://adelaidemetro.com.au/routes/FLNDRS
linders to City - Adelaide Metro website
{{Adelaide public transport
Railway lines in South Australia
Railway lines opened in 1966
Transport in Adelaide
1966 establishments in Australia