They were indeed running to the city and back. I watched them do so from the window of one of the Belair trains while it waited to get into platform 8.

Maybe they worked out how to deal with the crossovers later on, but at the time I was there they were running empty and turning back.

They weren't.  They couldn't.  The only answer would be that you witnessed the fault being rectified and services resuming, and as such saw services able to depart Adelaide and following that services able to enter Adelaide.  Exceptional effort was made to ensure as many trains ran as they did.

Meanwhile the 35 TSR, from the Torrens River Bridges to the Adelaide Dental Hospital, is still in existance on the Gawler and Outer Harbor lines...

Meanwhile the 35 TSR, from the Torrens River Bridges to the Adelaide Dental Hospital, is still in existance on the Gawler and Outer Harbor lines...

Please do offer your, no doubt flawless, analysis of why this TSR is in place and what this means about the state of the infrastructure.

(Hint: whatever you are thinking, its completely wrong)

Meanwhile the 35 TSR, from the Torrens River Bridges to the Adelaide Dental Hospital, is still in existance on the Gawler and Outer Harbor lines...

Please do offer your, no doubt flawless, analysis of why this TSR is in place and what this means about the state of the infrastructure.

(Hint: whatever you are thinking, its completely wrong)

Interesting that a straightforward observation should generate such a cryptic response!

There was a privatisation thread, but seemingly is was sold off?......No new news here, but it will be interesting to see how the new govt plays this one out as they really can't afford a payout.

https://www.railexpress.com.au/rail-privatisation-contract-may-be-terminated/

There was a privatisation thread, but seemingly is was sold off?......No new news here, but it will be interesting to see how the new govt plays this one out as they really can't afford a payout.

https://www.railexpress.com.au/rail-privatisation-contract-may-be-terminated/

Is https://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11401284.htm the thread you were thinking of?

It's only six weeks since the election and some of the party's more left-leaning ALP candidates made a rather excessive fuss about it during the campaign, so Malinauskas has no choice but to drag it out for a little longer before declaring it unfeasible.

I stand by my comments in the amusingly titled 'franchising' thread still visible halfway down the first page of the SA forum - KD should offer the government a $150M discount on the contract buyout in return for five year's worth of naming rights for the Adelaide 500 and Tour Down Under. The marketing opportunities would be good, but nothing compared to the long-term benefits of being on good terms after helping the government accomplish multiple policy goals in one hit.

Meanwhile the 35 TSR, from the Torrens River Bridges to the Adelaide Dental Hospital, is still in existance on the Gawler and Outer Harbor lines...

Please do offer your, no doubt flawless, analysis of why this TSR is in place and what this means about the state of the infrastructure.

(Hint: whatever you are thinking, its completely wrong)

Well if the track speed through that area is supposed to be permanent then perhaps the speed boards should have been posted with 35 from the get go.

Well if the track speed through that area is supposed to be permanent then perhaps the speed boards should have been posted with 35 from the get go.

Three relevant observation about the TSR signs:

1. The signs are hinged and can be padlocked out of use.  This suggests that the restriction was intended to be applied intermittently over a period of time.
2. The signs were installed around September 2018 when the attached photo was taken at Bowden.
3. There is a similar sign on the Belair Up at Mile End which has been locked closed for several years.

Well if the track speed through that area is supposed to be permanent then perhaps the speed boards should have been posted with 35 from the get go.

Three relevant observation about the TSR signs:

1. The signs are hinged and can be padlocked out of use.  This suggests that the restriction was intended to be applied intermittently over a period of time.
2. The signs were installed around September 2018 when the attached photo was taken at Bowden.
3. There is a similar sign on the Belair Up at Mile End which has been locked closed for several years.

Very well observed.

The 35 km/hr TSR is for safeworking arrangements in the yard and has absolutely sweet FA to do with the design or condition of the track infrastructure.

But we shouldn't let others having no idea what they're talking about get in the way of their preferred narrative

Well if the track speed through that area is supposed to be permanent then perhaps the speed boards should have been posted with 35 from the get go.

Three relevant observation about the TSR signs:

1. The signs are hinged and can be padlocked out of use.  This suggests that the restriction was intended to be applied intermittently over a period of time.
2. The signs were installed around September 2018 when the attached photo was taken at Bowden.
3. There is a similar sign on the Belair Up at Mile End which has been locked closed for several years.

Very well observed.

The 35 km/hr TSR is for safeworking arrangements in the yard and has absolutely sweet FA to do with the design or condition of the track infrastructure.

But we shouldn't let others having no idea what they're talking about get in the way of their preferred narrative

I was assuming that the TSR was intended to be there until the Gawler Line upgrade is complete, judging by the pull down signs, and the fact that the original line speed signs near the dental hospital are covered up.

There was a privatisation thread, but seemingly is was sold off?......No new news here, but it will be interesting to see how the new govt plays this one out as they really can't afford a payout.

https://www.railexpress.com.au/rail-privatisation-contract-may-be-terminated/

Is https://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11401284.htm the thread you were thinking of?

Indeed, thank you.

Meanwhile passing loop points have been replaced on the Belair line over the easter long weekend. i thought the belair line was only upgraded a decade or so ago?

Which location?  Sleeps Hill or Eden Hills?  I see a further weekend closure is scheduled in ten days time.  There was also work on the ARTC line around Glenunga LX at the weelend  A trainload of 90m rail lengths went up on Friday and rhe empties reurned from Belair loop on Sunday afternoon.

More on the work on the Belair line last weekend....some interesting posts in reply too.

https://www.facebook.com/DFITSA/posts/373617971459615

When the Brighton Road grade separation was proposed, one of the options was to acquire land to the south so the new track and station could be built while the current line would be in operation. This was to avoid a long line closure period. Meanwhile in Melbourne a similar but more extensive grade separation is underway, where a 3-track line will be sunk with only a 2-week closure period. Piling either side of the new trench has been going on for a while, and during the closure the trench will be excavated and new electrified track installed. Station works are usually completed after the line is operational. Why can't this happen in Adelaide? The only bus bridge would be between Brighton and Oakland stations, which according to Google maps takes 5-9 minutes compared with 6 minutes by train. So the normal train timetable could almost be maintained, but would need to allow 5 minutes to change from train to bus then another 5 minutes from bus to train.

https://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/media/news/final-designs-for-the-new-union-station-and-station-precinct

Continung the recent trend of positive announcements. It was rather short sighted of the previous govt to proposal any development which threatened the future corridor.

Next step should be to fund a BC for the ext in around 2-3 years and then seek IA approval and funding from the Feds after the 2026 election.

I actually thought preservation of the corridor south to Aldinga had already been done in places - in fact I think that was done under Weatherill. Someone like Pressman or Justapassanger might be able to enlighten us.

Indeed it was mostly all previously preserved well before the 2018 election. You can view much of the corridor in the Onka Council Aldinga Fraemwork Plan. The issue was that under the previous govt, Renewal SA was looking at acquiring the southern end of the corridor for a large development, the grey section in the pic. That has now been canned.

In October 2021, Renewal SA began a process to secure a private development partner for a 60-hectare site at Aldinga. The reserved rail corridor runs directly through the earmarked land parcel. Renewal SA has now terminated its Request for Proposal process for the Aldinga site.

The relevance to rail is about whether the rail station is at the end of the rail corridor on the northern side of Quinliven Road (as per the RenewalSA 'final' plan of November 2020) or extended a couple of hundred metres to put it on the southern side inside the RenewalSA project site.

Either spot is fine. North makes the trip to access the station (by foot) a couple of minutes longer from the south and a couple of minutes shorter from the Aldinga Village precinct, and near enough to no difference for destinations along Quinliven Road. Southern side does the opposite, but also puts the location of parking and bus interchange facilities right in the middle of the education part of the RenewalSA site (right between Cardijn College Galilee and Aldinga Payinthi College) where there could be shared facilities to mutually benefit both colleges.

But talking about the rail corridor is just a well calibrated distraction. The real story is that Malinauskas has wasted no time in getting directly involved with the supposedly independent RenewalSA and forced the tender process to be halted and restarted - and therefore who stands to gain from that decision.

Indeed it was mostly all previously preserved well before the 2018 election. You can view much of the corridor in the Onka Council Aldinga Fraemwork Plan. The issue was that under the previous govt, Renewal SA was looking at acquiring the southern end of the corridor for a large development, the grey section in the pic. That has now been canned.

In October 2021, Renewal SA began a process to secure a private development partner for a 60-hectare site at Aldinga. The reserved rail corridor runs directly through the earmarked land parcel. Renewal SA has now terminated its Request for Proposal process for the Aldinga site.

If you read the linked document, you'll find that RenewalSA already owns the whole of the land other than the sports grounds on the north-east corner and the Cardijn College Galilee campus on the north-west corner - both facilities which form part of the 2020 plan for the site.

No part of the RenewalSA land has ever been formally allocated to a rail corridor by either the Rann/Weatherill government or the Marshall government.

What does any subdivision of the "southern" area tell me?

In that "southern" parcel are 4 allotments: the school (D122448 A20) and Carjin College (D126637 A16) on Quinliven Road, a large parcel fronting Aldinga Beach Road (D81273 A61), and the remainder (D122448 A21) which includes an  area between the schools.   There are also 3 much smaller parcels on the corner of How Road and Aldinga Beach Road.

This tells me that there were at least 2 parcels originally (D81273 A61 and another), the northern part of which was later subdivided by Deposited Plan D122448 into at least 2 allotments one of which is the Government School, and later the Carjin College block was formed by D126637 A16.

It raises the question about the now cancelled development: was  it D81273 A61 or did it also include the undeveloped part of DP122448?

It was probably the former leaving quite a bit of space between the schools for a railway station.   Whether taking the line through to Aldinga Beach Road would have any benefit is debatable.

As to a corridor further north there is a reserve from Griffith Drive south to Pedler Creek but no further.

(Property search from SAPPA)

Developing directly adjacent to the terminus of the proposed extension increases, rather than hinders, the case for an extension.

The adage "build it and they will come" (yes I know this is a misquote) is apt, but it and they are often confused. Developing an area (it) will bolster the business case for investment in public transport infrastructure (they).

RenewalSA's Structure Plan for Aldinga clearly envisions the future rail corridor and station as a key part of the development of these parcels of land. The development of this plan included consultation with DIT regarding the optimum location of the terminus station for a future extension to Aldinga.

At worst I don't see how this intervention in RenewalSA's activities to develop this site, in accordance with their structure plan, could be anything other than a move against the extension. At best it is entirely unnecessary interference in RenewalSA's planning functions.

Further to reserving a rail corridor to Aldinga, preserving a further corridor to Sellicks and beyond should also be looked at.

Indeed it was mostly all previously preserved well before the 2018 election. You can view much of the corridor in the Onka Council Aldinga Fraemwork Plan. The issue was that under the previous govt, Renewal SA was looking at acquiring the southern end of the corridor for a large development, the grey section in the pic. That has now been canned.

In October 2021, Renewal SA began a process to secure a private development partner for a 60-hectare site at Aldinga. The reserved rail corridor runs directly through the earmarked land parcel. Renewal SA has now terminated its Request for Proposal process for the Aldinga site.

If you read the linked document, you'll find that RenewalSA already owns the whole of the land other than the sports grounds on the north-east corner and the Cardijn College Galilee campus on the north-west corner - both facilities which form part of the 2020 plan for the site.

No part of the RenewalSA land has ever been formally allocated to a rail corridor by either the Rann/Weatherill government or the Marshall government.

Govt ownership is clear. When I wrote acquiring, I was referring to the southern end of corridor being acquired for development rather than preserved. The issue is that last year the previous govt sought for Renewal to sell off the whole parcel to private developers for a major development in order to increase the proposed residential density of the land - against Onka Council's wishes. Preservation of a rail corridor was unclear, but seemed unlikely as it wasn't unequivocally stated.

“Council acknowledges that the land is needed for residential development, and the final DPA (development plan amendment) approved by the minister addressed some of our concerns,” she said. “We do remain concerned about this zone’s references to high-density development, three-storey and/or more building heights, and the allowable floor area for non-residential land uses in an outer suburban location such as Aldinga. “While we ultimately didn’t get the zone we advocated for, we did get the concept plan and commitments to higher-than-minimum sustainability standards, which we consider to be important to set the foundation for development of the land.”

Thus, this potentially threatened the future rail corridor and the preferred central location of a terminus station closer to Aldinga Beach rd. It might have resulted in the future ext terminating north of Port rd, nearly 1km-1.25km further north of the general, suggested Aldinga stn site - there is no exact, current site of course.

The fact that this last 1km section of the rail corridor south of Port rd had not been previously formally gazetted, but had been assumed and indicative in planning processes and on maps for near;y a decade, has essentially now been resolved by this policy announcement. Perhaps the new govt has 'milked' the uncertainty, but at least the policy for the corridor is now clear. Something the previous govt could have avoided by making their intentions for the proposed corridor known.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news-story%2F8635515b39a51591fd5bdfc233f21d2d
Yikes! From a 2019 est of $800m, to a current rough est of $2B given much higher material prices & construction costs! Hopefully, goes down closer to the $1B mark by the end of the decade when construction of the ext should ideally commence...

Further to reserving a rail corridor to Aldinga, preserving a further corridor to Sellicks and beyond should also be looked at.

Beyond?!? A tunnel to the Victor perhaps....? Sellicks is highly unlikely and anything beyond is very unrealistic.

Further to reserving a rail corridor to Aldinga, preserving a further corridor to Sellicks and beyond should also be looked at.

Sellicks is about as far as it could go anyway due to the topography beyond there.

Meanwhile - Trial approved for hills train service. Not sure what this even means given the money hasn't been allocated anyway.