Having majority of country lines in all sorts of disarray and deteriorating , surely there will have to come a time for removal.
Or is it cheaper to let all the lines to remain left alone and let the elements take care of them. There are that many now , I have lost track of how many lay idle , with rail still intact.

South Australia certai my is a railway rust belt. There is much traffic available and gwa are the problem.

A revival in NSW a state who
Is far smarter than the likes of Victoria and south Australia.

Lots of the SA lines are very old and were probably low axle load when decommissioned.  Plus, the areas served are within 300km of ports, so within the zone where road freight is more competitive.

There might be some worth looking at, perhaps Mt Gambier for logs and the line through Burra for grain, though it would be a full rebuild as I understand it, so probably going to be very expensive so Id doubt they'd stack up.

Lots of the SA lines are very old and were probably low axle load when decommissioned.  Plus, the areas served are within 300km of ports, so within the zone where road freight is more competitive.

There might be some worth looking at, perhaps Mt Gambier for logs and the line through Burra for grain, though it would be a full rebuild as I understand it, so probably going to be very expensive so Id doubt they'd stack up.

The Bowmans to Port Adelaide daily container run is 100km.

In most cases, though not all, low axle loads were not a major issue.

South Australia certai my is a railway rust belt. There is much traffic available and gwa are the problem.

A revival in NSW a state who
Is far smarter than the likes of Victoria and south Australia.

If there is so much traffic available then why hasn't another operator picked it up?

All lines in SA are open access.

Having majority of country lines in all sorts of disarray and deteriorating , surely there will have to come a time for removal.
Or is it cheaper to let all the lines to remain left alone and let the elements take care of them. There are that many now , I have lost track of how many lay idle , with rail still intact.

The railways cleaning up after themselves in South Australia? You must be new here!

They'll only get cleaned up if someone wants to do something else with the land or build a new track in place of the old one.

South Australia certai my is a railway rust belt. There is much traffic available and gwa are the problem.

A revival in NSW a state who
Is far smarter than the likes of Victoria and south Australia.

You must be from NSW.

Apart from East of Murray Bridge and parts of the Eyre Peninsular the arable land in SA is all quite close to shipping ports. Road transport is thus too competitive and many primary producers are themselves owner operators of semis and similar bulk transport vehicles. The producers and handlers have a vested in NOT using rail. SA has no significant mineral traffic to cross subsidise other rail traffic as occurs in NSW and Qld so the rest is seasonal cereal transport, just a few thousand tonnes for a few weeks each year.
AN walked away from livestock transport both four and two legged leaving the farm gate to processor road transport free reign; this traffic would not return.

The broad gauge lines remaining north of Adelaide are in decrepit condition even if the rail and formation was once adequate for moderate to heavy axle loads.

The crying shame is that the Mt Gambier line was not standardised and what was once a heavy axle load line is now two length of 94lb rail vaguely held in gauge by rotten pieces of timber with a formation which make a good representation of a forest. Time has passed and so has the opportunity to benefit from the traffic that the industry local to Mt Gambier would generate.

I saw all this because I come from an era when the SAR was still the "common carrier". An example, the Victor Harbor Brill RM needed a second car just to carry the parcels. General items were still delivered by rail and could be picked at stations (My wife used to buy bags of flour from a miller in Nhill [Vic] which came by rail and I would pick it up from the freight shed in Whyalla). There was a twice a week freight service to significant towns like Clare which was a full train load.
Nowadays one bloke with a large covered truck does a door to door service.
Super phosphate, the other railway bulk staple, is now delivered to the farm paddock after having been mixed to obtain characteristic to suit that specific paddock.

Times have changed.
Ian

Lots of the SA lines are very old and were probably low axle load when decommissioned.  Plus, the areas served are within 300km of ports, so within the zone where road freight is more competitive.

There might be some worth looking at, perhaps Mt Gambier for logs and the line through Burra for grain, though it would be a full rebuild as I understand it, so probably going to be very expensive so Id doubt they'd stack up.

The Bowmans to Port Adelaide daily container run is 100km.

In most cases, though not all, low axle loads were not a major issue.

Where does the freight come from for Bowmans to be a viable container site?

Lots of the SA lines are very old and were probably low axle load when decommissioned.  Plus, the areas served are within 300km of ports, so within the zone where road freight is more competitive.

There might be some worth looking at, perhaps Mt Gambier for logs and the line through Burra for grain, though it would be a full rebuild as I understand it, so probably going to be very expensive so Id doubt they'd stack up.

The Bowmans to Port Adelaide daily container run is 100km.

In most cases, though not all, low axle loads were not a major issue.

Where does the freight come from for Bowmans to be a viable container site?

Does the expression make hay while the sun shines mean anything to you Heath Loxton. The answer is in that sentence though!

Lots of the SA lines are very old and were probably low axle load when decommissioned.  Plus, the areas served are within 300km of ports, so within the zone where road freight is more competitive.

There might be some worth looking at, perhaps Mt Gambier for logs and the line through Burra for grain, though it would be a full rebuild as I understand it, so probably going to be very expensive so Id doubt they'd stack up.

The Bowmans to Port Adelaide daily container run is 100km.

In most cases, though not all, low axle loads were not a major issue.

Where does the freight come from for Bowmans to be a viable container site?

Does the expression make hay while the sun shines mean anything to you Heath Loxton. The answer is in that sentence though!

Good to see a sensible question from you Heath
The Bowmans site is owned and operated by a company called Balco Australia, they export Hay to a number of countries including Japan, China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Try having a read of their website http://www.balco.com.au/

Freightgate;

South Australia certai my is a railway rust belt. There is much traffic available and gwa are the problem.

Would you care to part your east of the great dividing range mentality upon us mere mortals on how GWA are the problem?

Adding the Seaford line to the list?

Adding the Seaford line to the list?

Today's failure deserves a thorough investigation.

The severe weather never turned up, if it's going to fall apart any time there's a stiff sea breeze we should consider replacing the transformers under the A-City sets with diesel gensets.

Exactly, debris landing on the OH and taking it out is one thing, but this is just a piece of infrastructure that's broken under what can only be described as fairly minimal loading. Not good enough.

Exactly, debris landing on the OH and taking it out is one thing, but this is just a piece of infrastructure that's broken under what can only be described as fairly minimal loading. Not good enough.

And of course in the real world, engineering is perfect and nothing ever breaks or goes wrong!  Welcome to the fantasy world.

The Seaford railway line is going to be the butt of jokes for years to come built cheap and nasty and now coming back to bite the Govt on the bum. There were too many short cuts made when rebuilding it though and also the DPTI does not have anyone with any expertise in high voltage electric railway lines by the look of it and it shows as well. It is simply a case of the blind leading the blind by the looks of it.  Well that is how most see it anyway and I bet they are not far wrong either!

I have to agree with Aaron though about this, and yes things do break but if you have a decent maintenance system in place it should not really happen and if it does happen then you have the resources to fix it quickly, which obviously they do not have. The whole railway is a standing joke from start to finish though.

The Seaford railway line is going to be the butt of jokes for years to come built cheap and nasty and now coming back to bite the Govt on the bum. There were too many short cuts made when rebuilding it though and also the DPTI does not have anyone with any expertise in high voltage electric railway lines by the look of it and it shows as well. It is simply a case of the blind leading the blind by the looks of it.  Well that is how most see it anyway and I bet they are not far wrong either!

I have to agree with Aaron though about this, and yes things do break but if you have a decent maintenance system in place it should not really happen and if it does happen then you have the resources to fix it quickly, which obviously they do not have. The whole railway is a standing joke from start to finish though.

The instance of break down this time was quickly fixed so saying DPTI doesn't have the expertise is pure bunkum. The system in itself was designed by people with the credentials of "World's Best Practice" and these were the people that designed the systems in Qld and WA. The supply system was by Siemans who supplied the circuit breaker that failed previously and they are endeavouring to replace it as soon as they are able. This event could in fact be what is known as an infantile failure of one component similar to when you replace a light bulb and the new one doesn't work.

The Seaford railway line is going to be the butt of jokes for years to come built cheap and nasty and now coming back to bite the Govt on the bum. There were too many short cuts made when rebuilding it though and also the DPTI does not have anyone with any expertise in high voltage electric railway lines by the look of it and it shows as well. It is simply a case of the blind leading the blind by the looks of it.  Well that is how most see it anyway and I bet they are not far wrong either!

I have to agree with Aaron though about this, and yes things do break but if you have a decent maintenance system in place it should not really happen and if it does happen then you have the resources to fix it quickly, which obviously they do not have. The whole railway is a standing joke from start to finish though.

The instance of break down this time was quickly fixed so saying DPTI doesn't have the expertise is pure bunkum. The system in itself was designed by people with the credentials of "World's Best Practice" and these were the people that designed the systems in Qld and WA. The supply system was by Siemans who supplied the circuit breaker that failed previously and they are endeavouring to replace it as soon as they are able. This event could in fact be what is known as an infantile failure of one component similar to when you replace a light bulb and the new one doesn't work.

Perhaps to improve the reliability of their infrastructure they should outsource their maintenance to either QR or Transperth both of whom operate larger systems with less problems.

We have similar insulators all over SA holding up 66KV lines, to have a quite new one fail in what could hardly be described as a decent wind is disappointing. We have insulators all over the state they have been up longer and survived worse. A strong breeze taking out a railway line is not acceptable by any definition of acceptable - although it should also be noted that AdMet hardly meets the definition of a rail line...

Also of note is that I supported DPTI over the 'relay' failure, although my mind has subsequently been given doubts that I was right to do so. This current failure is certainly a joke.

Also of note is that I supported DPTI over the 'relay' failure, although my mind has subsequently been given doubts that I was right to do so. This current failure is certainly a joke.

Yes, "current failure" is a joke.

South Australia certai my is a railway rust belt. There is much traffic available and gwa are the problem.

A revival in NSW a state who
Is far smarter than the likes of Victoria and south Australia.

If there is so much traffic available then why hasn't another operator picked it up?

All lines in SA are open access.

Open access only in name. Has anybody really got access from GWA? Have you seen the ceiling price for their access charges--it'd be impossible to make money running a train if you're paying that!

@Beta4Me, can you share a link as to where the ceiling prices are located?  Ive not been able to find them.

Is there any freight forwarders wanting to freight by any rail operator on GWA lines? No one has approached GWA for access because the freight isn't there, nothing to do with access charges.

Is there any freight forwarders wanting to freight by any rail operator on GWA lines? No one has approached GWA for access because the freight isn't there, nothing to do with access charges.

I did raise the question about the Pinnaroo line as to whether Viterra had looked at using other SG rail operators instead of GWA.  We didnt get an answer then, so ill throw it in here again.  Did that happen?