Grange railway line

Grange Line
Overview
Locale Adelaide, South Australia
Termini Adelaide
Grange
Stations Woodville
Services
  • Every 20-30 mins (peak)
  • Every 30 mins (weekday)
  • Every 60 mins (weekend)
  • Every 60 mins (night)
Operation
Opened 1882
Events
Re-sleepered (concrete) 2010
Technical
Line length 13.0 km (8.1 mi)
No. of tracks Double track to Woodville
Single track to Grange
Track gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)

The Grange railway line is a suburban branch line in Adelaide, South Australia.

History

Grange Line suburban service

Legend
 Gauge and interchange key 
Broad gauge
Standard gauge
Adelaide Metro commuter trains
Adelaide Metro trams
Adelaide Metro buses
GSR interstate trains
To Henley Beach
Old Grange(closed 1986)
Military Road
13.0km
0:22
Grange
Charles Sturt Avenue
Port River
12.0km
0:20
East Grange
Frederick Road
Golflinks(closed 1961)
Tapleys Hill Road
10.3km
0:18
Seaton Park
West Lakes Boulevard
Hendon(closed 1980)
9.1km
0:16
Albert Park(junction closed 1980)
Port Road
Holdens(closed 1992)
to Outer Harbor
7.5km
0:14
Woodville
Woodville Road
6.8km
0:12
Woodville Park
Kilkenny Road
6.0km
0:10
Kilkenny
Private Road

5.1km
0:09
West Croydon(over Rosetta Street)
4.2km
0:07
Croydon
Elizabeth Street
South Road
Coglin Street
Chief Street
East Street
2.7km
0:05
Bowden
Gibson Street
Gibson Street
Proposed tram junction
Park Terrace
Entertainment Centre

To Port Augusta
To Gawler
Torrens Bridge(closed 1888)

River Torrens
To Seaford, Tonsley and Belair
West Terrace
Adelaide Depot
City West
Montefiore Road

0km
0:00
Adelaide
To Glenelg
The old Grange station remnants

The railway line between Woodville and Grange opened in September 1882. This was a private railway, constructed by the Grange Railway and Investment Company. The early railway was not a financial success and was bought out by the South Australian Railways in 1893.[1]

Modifications to the track layout at Woodville station in 1909 enabled trains from the Grange branch to travel beyond Woodville to Adelaide.[1]

In November 1940, the Hendon branch line was opened diverging from the Grange line at Albert Park and running 1.1 kilometres to the Hendon munitions works. After the end of World War II, the Hendon trains operated only at shift-change times. In spite of low passenger numbers, the Hendon branch continued operation until 1 February 1980, after which the line was closed and removed.[1]

The terminus at Grange was relocated in the late 1980s on the eastern side of Military Road to eliminate a level crossing. The old station was formerly a stop on the Henley Beach line, an extension of the Grange line which closed in 1957.

A station named Holdens, located between Woodville and Albert Park stations adjacent to what is now the SA Manufacturing Park, was closed in 1992 and subsequently demolished.

A station called Cheltenham, serving both rail passengers and race-goers to Cheltenham Racecourse opened on the Grange line in 1895 but closed after only a few decades of operation. In 1959, an island-platform station opened 500 metres outbound from the original station and was named Cheltenham. The original station was renamed Cheltenham Racecourse, and was restricted to raceday services only until the early 1970s. On 21 February 2009, Cheltenham Park Racecourse closed to make way for new housing developments. In June 2012, the Racecourse station was demolished, and both platforms were removed.

Route

The line runs from the Adelaide to the seaside suburb of Grange. The route follows the same alignment as the Outer HarborlLine as far as Woodville station, where it diverges south west and across Port Road. The route then travels through Albert Park and bisects the Royal Adelaide Golf Club between Seaton Park and East Grange stations.

The line is single track from Woodville to Grange with no passing loops over its entire length. All stations on the line are unattended and have only very basic passenger waiting facilities. The line is 5.5 kilometres long and broad gauge (1600mm).

Services

Services operate in tandem with Outer Harbor line trains. Weekday off-peak services run every 30 minutes, Weekday peak services run every 20–30 minutes with hourly services on weekends.[2]

Once every two years services are temporarily cut back to Seaton Park for approximately two weeks for the running of the Jacob's Creek Open golf tournament. Rail replacement buses are used to transport passengers for the remainder of the route.

Until 1996, Grange line services previously operated as a shuttle from Woodville station at night and on weekends, connecting with Outer Harbor line services.

The vast majority of services are operated by 3000 class railcars. 2000 class railcars have not operated on the line since 2006.

Proposed extension

It has been proposed to divert the line from Albert Park along a new alignment to service Westfield West Lakes and Football Park,[3] which would provide a major patronage boost for the line, which is little used outside of peak hour. It has also been proposed to convert the line to light rail.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rails Through Swamp and Sand – A History of the Port Adelaide Railway. M. Thompson pub. Port Dock Station Railway Museum (1988) ISBN 0-9595073-6-1.
  2. Outer Harbor & Grange timetable Adelaide Metro 23 February 2014
  3. "AAMI on a train to nowhere". AdelaideNow. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-28.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, September 07, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.