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
A 3000 class railcar exiting Sleeps Hill Tunnel.
Overview
Type	Commuter rail
Locale	Adelaide, South Australia
Termini	Adelaide Belair
Stations	15
Operation
Opened	1883
Operator(s)	Adelaide Metro
Rolling stock	3000/3100 class
Events
Re-sleepered (concrete)	April–August 2009
Electrified	January–July 2013 (to Goodwood)
Technical
Line length	21.5 km (13.4 mi)
Number of tracks	2 (to Adelaide Showground) 1 (to Belair)
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	25 kV AC overhead
Route map  Glenelg tram 0 km Adelaide Montefiore Road City West Gawler, Grange and Outer Harbor lines to Port Augusta (ARTC) Royal Adelaide Hospital Adelaide Depot (closed 2011) Port Road Glover Avenue Holdfast Bay line (closed 1929) 2.0 km Mile End Sir Donald Bradman Drive Mile End Goods (closed 1994) Adelaide Parklands Terminal Keswick (closed 2013) Anzac Highway 4.0 km Adelaide Showground Showground Central (2003–2013) Leader Street 5.0 km Goodwood  Glenelg tram  Seaford and Tonsley lines Victoria Street Goodwood loop Goodwood Road 5.9 km Millswood Cross Road 7.0 km Unley Park Hilda Terrace/Sussex Terrace Hawthorn (closed 1995) Angas Road Grange Road 8.5 km Mitcham (passing loop) Wattlebury Road 9.3 km Torrens Park Clapham (original; closed 1917) Clapham (closed 1995) Springbank Road Barretts Road 10.7 km Lynton Sleeps Hill loop Sleeps Hill (closed 1950s) Original alignment (closed 1920) Sleeps Hill tunnel Sleeps Hill viaduct 14.2 km Eden Hills Willunga Street Shepherds Hill Road tunnel Eden Hills loop 17.2 km Coromandel Brighton Parade Coromandel Parade Main Road 18.1 km Blackwood (passing loop) 19.3 km Glenalta Main Road Main Road 20.2 km Pinera Upper Sturt Road 21.5 km Belair Belair Depot to Melbourne Victorian broad gauge standard gauge narrow gauge

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 line 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 stopped 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 south of Goodwood were thus restricted to one track with crossing loops located at Mitcham, Sleeps Hill, Eden Hills and Blackwood. At the same time, the stations at Millswood, Hawthorn and Clapham were closed to speed up services. Millswood was later 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.

Line guide

Parking / Park ‘n’ Ride / Hi Frequency

Station	Image	Opened	Additional information
Belair		1883	Terminus (1987–present)
Pinera		1920s	Opened as Overway Bridge; renamed 1950s
Glenalta		?	Opened as Belair Road; renamed
Blackwood		1883	Interchange Bus transfer: 173 195196 605 893 894 894H G30F
Coromandel		1883	Opened as Brighton Parade; renamed
Eden Hills		1912-04-01	Opened as Eden; renamed
Lynton		1946
Torrens Park		?	Opened as Blythwood; renamed 1921
Mitcham		1883
Unley Park		1910s
Millswood		1910s	Closed 1995; reopened 2014
Goodwood		1883-03-05	Transfer: Seadford, Tonsley lines
Adelaide Showground		2014-02-17
Mile End		1898	Opened as Mile End Passenger; renamed Mile End
Adelaide		1856-04	Transfer: Gawler, Grange, Outer Harbor lines Tram transfer: Glenelg Tram

Former stations

Station	Image	Opened	Additional information
Mile End Goods		?	Closed 1994
Keswick		1913-04-06	Closed 2013
Showground Central		2005	Seasonal usage; closed 2013
Hawthorn		1910s	Closed 1995
Clapham		1910s	Relocated 1917; closed 1995
Sleeps Hill		1909	Closed 1946 (replaced by Lynton)

Gallery

• 
  Mitcham station
• 
  Two Redhen railcars working a Belair to Adelaide local train during the late 1980s approaching Lynton
• 
  Eden Hills station
• 
  Blackwood station in 2007; 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

External links

• Belair to City - Adelaide Metro website