The Seaford railway line is a suburban commuter line in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

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 ...

History

Before the extension of the line to Noarlunga Centre in 1978, the Willunga line ran from Hallett Cove station on a different route through Reynella,

Morphett Vale Morphett Vale is a southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Onkaparinga. It is the largest suburb in the state, with a population of more than 23,000 and an area of 12.76 km2, followed by Paralowie with nearly 10,000 f ...

and Hackham to Willunga (south-east of Noarlunga). It closed in 1969 and in September 1972 a track-removal train removed the tracks, and for six years Noarlunga had no train service. The

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Austr ...

and its successor, the State Transport Authority, extended the current railway southwards in stages from Hallett Cove to cater for increasing residential development in the southern area. Opening dates for passenger services were: Hallett Cove Beach on 30 June 1974;

Christie Downs Christie Downs is a suburb in southern Metropolitan Adelaide within the city of Onkaparinga, South Australia. It has a unique postcode of 5164, and is adjacent to the suburbs of Christies Beach to the west, Noarlunga Centre to the south, Morph ...

on 25 January 1976 (This was a temporary terminus just north of Beach Road and adjacent to Hyacinth Crescent, and was in a different location to the current Christie Downs station, which opened in November 1981.); and Noarlunga Centre on 2 April 1978. 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 sub ...

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. Since the electrification of the line, the latter are no longer authorised to operate on the line. Most services are now operated by A-City electric multiple units. A number of railcars needed for peak-hour services are now stabled overnight in secure sidings at Port Stanvac, north of Lonsdale station, and at a much bigger facility adjacent to Seaford Meadows. The last freight trains on the line, to and from Port Stanvac Refinery, ceased in the late 1990s.

Re-sleepering and electrification

In 2008, the State Government announced a plan to upgrade and electrify the Seaford line with the Federal Government also to provide funding. In December 2009, Stage 1 of the Noarlunga line upgrade was completed between

and Brighton. This work saw the track removed, with the track bed and track renewed.

Dual gauge In railway engineering, " gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to ...

sleepers were laid to allow for the line to be converted to standard gauge at a future date. Stage 2 commenced in February 2011 with the line closed for six months and continued the upgrade works between Oaklands and Noarlunga. Most stations ( Brighton, Seacliff, Marino, Marino Rocks and Lonsdale) received a minor upgrade due to the presence of asbestos in many station shelters, necessitating their replacement. On 2 January 2013, the line closed to allow for its electrification and extension, with trains being replaced by bus services. Rail services resumed on 1 December 2013. The completed project was opened by the South Australian Transport and Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis on 18 January 2014. Electric train services commenced in February 2014 after testing was completed on the line. At the time, only four A-City electric multiple units had entered service, so most services continued to be operated by

Seaford extension

In 2005, the State Government announced the line would be extended 5.5 kilometres to the southern suburb of Seaford. The plan was cancelled in December 2007 after a study concluded that the extension could not be justified. The government announced that it would retain the corridor to Aldinga for a possible extension further south in the future. In July 2008, a feasibility study was commissioned by the government into extending the line. This extension was given approval after the

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

announced a $291 million investment in the project as part of the 2009/10 Federal Budget. Construction started in 2011 with the extension opening on 23 February 2014.Rail revitalistaion Seaford rail extension
Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure
''

ABC Adelaide ABC Radio Adelaide (call sign: 5AN) is the ABC Local Radio station for Adelaide. It is broadcast at 891 kHz on the AM band. It is also available on Digital TV in Adelaide. History 5AN started transmitting on 15 October 1937 with equipme ...

'' 23 February 2014 The extension included a new 1.2 kilometre elevated rail bridge over the

Onkaparinga River The Onkaparinga River, known as Ngangkiparri or Ngangkiparingga ("place of the women’s river") in the Kaurna language, is a river located in the Southern Adelaide region in the Australian state of South Australia. Rising in the Mount Lofty R ...

, a rail bridge over Old Honeypot Drive, and new railway stations at Seaford Meadows and Seaford. New road bridges were also constructed over the extension at Goldsmith Drive, Seaford Road and Lynton Terrace.

Future extension to Aldinga Beach

In 2019, Renewal SA delivered a Draft Structure Plan of a 94 hectare area of land in Aldinga which is set to include a new school and a train station.

Route

The line runs south from Adelaide station paralleling the Belair line as far as Goodwood. It then branches off in a south-west direction through the suburbs of Edwardstown,

Oaklands Park Oaklands Park is a southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Marion. The Marion Shopping Centre is a major feature of the suburb. History On 14 December 1906, Oaklands was bought by Thomas Currie Tait for £15,000. In 19 ...

and Marion to the coast at Brighton, where it turns south towards Noarlunga Centre in the southern suburbs. The line was known as the Marino and Hallett Cove line when it finished at Hallett Cove. Most trains terminated at Marino, with only about a quarter going to Hallett Cove. Like the rest of the Adelaide network, the line is broad gauge.

sleepers have been laid to allow for the line to be converted to standard gauge at a future date. The line is 35.9 kilometres long and is the second longest of the Adelaide suburban railway lines. The line is double track throughout. The

Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation spanning 8,500km across five states, 39 worksites and more than 50 First Nations. ...

standard-gauge main line passes over the line just south of Goodwood station, and the Flinders line branches off south of Woodlands Park.

Line guide

Former stations

* – opened 1913, closed 2013. * – closed 1994. * – opened 2005 for seasonal use, closed 2013. * – closed 1976.

Services

Trains to and from Adelaide operate every 5–10 minutes during the weekday peak periods, every 10–20 minutes off-peak on weekdays, and every 30 minutes on weekends plus in the late evening. Previously, some stations were also serviced by trains from Brighton and from the Flinders branch line on weekdays.Seaford & Tonsley timetable
Adelaide Metro 20 July 2014

Gallery

File:KeswickRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg, The now demolished Keswick station, with Adelaide Parklands Terminal in the background File:AdelaideRail 1.jpg, Goodwood station in 2005, with the Goodwood Overpass in the background File:2kwood.jpg, Woodlands Park station in 2007 File:OaklandsRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg, Oaklands station between 2008 and 2019 File:BrightonRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg, Brighton station File:MarinoRocksRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg, Marino Rocks station File:HallettCoveBeachRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg, Hallett Cove Beach station File:Noarlunga Centre Interchange 1.jpg, Noarlunga Centre, prior to 2014

References

External links

Seaford to City - Adelaide Metro website
{{Adelaide public transport Railway lines in South Australia Railway lines opened in 1978 Transport in Adelaide 1978 establishments in Australia