The Gawler railway line is a suburban commuter railway line in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the only rail route in Adelaide to have no interchange with another line at any station except Adelaide. The line was opened in 1857 from Adelaide to Gawler, and extended to Kapunda in 1860. Branches were later built from Gawler to termini in Angaston, Truro, Morgan, Robertstown, Peterborough, Spalding and Gladstone. Between Adelaide and Salisbury, the two broad gauge lines are paralleled by one standard gauge line on the Adelaide to Port Augusta line. A little north of Salisbury the standard gauge line heads north-west, and from Salisbury to Gawler there are two broad gauge tracks, with a single broad gauge track north of Gawler. South of Gawler, there were branches to the Holden factory at Elizabeth South, the Penfield railway line which serviced the former munitions factory and other Defence facilities in the area now called Edinburgh, and the Port Pirie line which also branched from the Gawler line at Salisbury railway station until it was converted to standard gauge with a new track laid alongside the broad gauge tracks. Prior to 1987, at Dry Creek, the Dry Creek-Port Adelaide railway line branched west, and the Northfield railway line used to branch east. In the mid 2000s, a new station was built at Mawson Lakes. In 2008, the State Government announced a plan to rebuild the Gawler line in preparation for the line to be electrified with the Federal Government also to provide funding. This work saw the track removed, and the track bed, sleepers and track renewed. Dual gauge sleepers were laid to allow for the line to be converted to standard gauge at a future date. The line was closed between North Adelaide and Mawson Interchange for four months from June 2010 for this work to be performed, and between Mawson Interchange and Gawler Central station for seven months from September 2011. Following the withdrawal of Federal Government funding by the then newly elected Abbott Liberal-National government, the electrification was postponed in October 2013. On 6 February 2011, a new Adelaide Metro railcar depot opened to the east of Dry Creek station to replace the facility behind the new Royal Adelaide Hospital site and Adelaide station. The depot is the major maintenance and re-fuelling facility for the diesel train fleet, with capacity to store 70 railcars with over 11 kilometres of track. The depot has been designed to allow future conversion to support electric rolling stock. To facilitate work on the Torrens Rail Junction in 2017, the Gawler line between Adelaide and Mawson Lakes was closed from 1-15 October and 18 November to 5 December. Following a decade of on-again, off-again talks, electrification of the Gawler line was announced in 2018. The announcement only promised Stage 1 electrification as far as Salisbury with works anticipated to commence in 2018, but a $220 million grant from the Federal Government also allowed for Stage 2 electrification for the remainder of the line to proceed. Works commenced in November 2019 with completion anticipated in 2021. Contrary to the Seaford line electrification which saw the line closed completely for 11 months, from October 2020 onward, main construction on the Gawler line is being spread out across a rolling schedule of partial and full line closures across 12 months; early works before October 2020 were spread across smaller closures typically at nights and on weekends. The entire line was closed on 25 December 2020; it was intended to reopen in November 2021 but was delayed due to restrictions regarding the COVID-19 lockdown in July. The line was expected to reopen around 30 April 2022, but following the state election in March, the reopening was pushed back to the end of June. The line was reopened on 12 June. Only three A-City 4000 class will run along the line to begin with; the 3000/3100 class will continue to serve the line until at least March 2023.
Source Links: Train Enthusiast's Video Diary 1986-03-02
• Train Enthusiast's Vi...
Red Hen Rail Cars of the SAR
• Red Hen Rail Cars of t...
SRF495: AAGA OUTER HARBOUR (ADELAIDE) CAB RIDE 1992
• SRF495: AAGA OUTER HAR...
Drivers view across the border: Gawler Central Railway Station to Adelaide Railway Station
• Video
Onboard the FIRST Electrified Gawler Line Train | Adelaide to Gawler | Inaugural Gawler Train
• Onboard the FIRST Elec...
Newly electrified Gawler Railway Line - First Day of Service
• The Gawler Line Electr...
Drivers view across the border: Adelaide Railway Station to Gawler Central Railway Station.
• Video
4006 departs Gawler Central Station on first day of electric trains.
• 4006 departs Gawler Ce...
18 авг 2022
