Belair railway line

Coordinates: 34°59′33″S 138°37′56″E / 34.992597°S 138.632355°E / -34.992597; 138.632355

Belair railway line
Overview
Locale	Adelaide, South Australia
Termini	Adelaide Belair
Stations	Goodwood Mitcham Blackwood
Services	Every 20–30 mins (peak) Every 30–40 mins (weekday) Every 60 mins (weekend) Every 60 mins (night)
Operation
Opened	1883
Rolling stock	3000/3100 class
Events
Re-sleepered (concrete)	April–August 2009
Technical
Line length	21.5 km (13.4 mi)
Number of tracks	Quadruple track to Goodwood Single track to Belair
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)

The Belair railway line is a suburban rail commuter route in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, that runs from the Adelaide station to Belair in the Adelaide Hills via the Adelaide-Wolseley line.

History

The Adelaide-Wolseley from Adelaide to Belair and Bridgewater opened in 1883.

In 1919, a new alignment was built around Sleeps Hill as part of the duplication of the line. This involved a new double track tunnel being built to replace two tunnels and two viaducts.^[1] The new alignment was also 400 metres shorter. On 18 June 1928, the line was duplicated from Eden Hills to Blackwood and on to Belair on 24 June 1928.^[2]

Passenger services were curtailed beyond Belair on 23 September 1987.^[2]

In 1995, the track used by Adelaide bound services was converted to standard gauge as part of the Adelaide to Melbourne standardisation project. The broad gauge passenger services were thus restricted to one track with crossing loops located at Mitcham, Blackwood, Eden Hills and Sleeps Hill. At the same time, the stations at Millswood, Hawthorn and Clapham were closed to speed up services. Millswood reopened on 12 October 2014.^[3]

Services

All services are operated by Adelaide Metro's 3000 class railcars. Until June 2007, some services on weekends were operated by a 2000 class railcar modified to incorporate increased bike capacity. In 2005, trains ran the route every 30 minutes on weekdays (hourly after 7pm) and every 60 minutes on weekends and public holidays. From 2006, because of the single line, this was downgraded to every 36/24 minutes on weekdays.

The standard gauge track is used by Great Southern Rail's twice-weekly Overland service to Melbourne and freight trains operated by Aurizon, Genesee & Wyoming Australia, Pacific National and SCT Logistics.

Resleepering

In 2008, the State Government announced a plan to rebuild the Belair line.^[4]

This work saw the track removed, with the track bed and track renewed. Dual gauge sleepers were laid to allow for the line to be converted to standard gauge at a future date. Unlike other lines is not planned in the immediate future due to extra engineering work and complications with the standard gauge line. The line closed on 26 April 2009 and reopened on 23 August 2009 with buses replacing trains.^[5]

2013 Closure

The Belair line was closed from 1 January 2013 to 14 July 2013 to allow for electrification of the line from Adelaide to Goodwood and construction of a grade separation at Goodwood Junction with relatively work performed on the Belair line itself.^[6][7]

Gallery

• 

  Mitcham station

• 

  Two Redhen railcars working a Belair to Adelaide local train during the late 1980s approaching Lynton

• 

  Eden Hills station

• 

  Blackwood station; bus Interchange can be seen on the left

• 

  Belair station, services to Bridgewater once departed from these platforms. (Now the Australian Rail Track Corporation's Melbourne line tracks)

• 

  Pacific National freight train passing through Belair

^1 West Terrace tram stop will become Royal Adelaide Hospital when Hospital is constructed.

Interchange Key:

Image	Service	Operator(s)	Where
	Suburban Trains Transfers	Adelaide Metro	Adelaide, Goodwood
	Lightrail Transfers	Adelaide Metro	Adelaide
	Suburban Bus Transfers	Torrens Transit SouthLink	see Bus Routes
	Interstate Trains Transfers	Great Southern	Adelaide Showground
	Bus or Rail Interchange	n/a	Adelaide, Goodwood, Blackwood

References