The Seaford railway line is a suburban commuter line in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

History

Before the extension of the line to

Noarlunga Centre Noarlunga Centre is a suburb in the City of Onkaparinga in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. The suburb is mostly commercial, being dominated by the Centro Colonnades shopping centre and the small 'Inspire Noarlunga' estate t ...

in 1978, the Willunga line ran from Hallett Cove station on a different route through

Reynella Reynella is a metropolitan suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located 20 km south of the Central Business District of Adelaide in the north of the City of Onkaparinga. It is bordered to the east by Main South Road, to the south ...

Morphett Vale Morphett Vale is a southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Onkaparinga. It is the largest suburb in the state, with a population of more than 23,000 and an area of 12.76 km2, followed by Paralowie with nearly 10,000 few ...

and Hackham to Willunga (south-east of Noarlunga). It closed in 1969 and in September 1972 a track-removal train removed the tracks, and for six years Noarlunga had no train service. The

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Austr ...

and its successor, the State Transport Authority, extended the current railway southwards in stages from Hallett Cove to cater for increasing residential development in the southern area. Opening dates for passenger services were: Hallett Cove Beach on 30 June 1974; Christie Downs on 25 January 1976 (This was a temporary terminus just north of Beach Road and adjacent to Hyacinth Crescent, and was in a different location to the current Christie Downs station, which opened in November 1981.); and

on 2 April 1978. Prior to 2014, most trains were operated by 3000 class railcars augmented at times by 2000 class railcars. Since the electrification of the line, the latter are no longer authorised to operate on the line. Most services are now operated by A-City

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

s. A number of railcars needed for peak-hour services are now stabled overnight in secure sidings at

Port Stanvac Port Stanvac is a former port and oil refinery in the suburb of Lonsdale south of Adelaide city centre in South Australia. It was operated by ExxonMobil between 1963 and 2003. Since its closure, the port and adjoining land-based refinery site ...

, north of Lonsdale station, and at a much bigger facility adjacent to Seaford Meadows. The last freight trains on the line, to and from

Port Stanvac Refinery Port Stanvac Refinery was an oil refinery in the Australian state of South Australia located in Lonsdale, a southern suburb of Adelaide. Its construction was announced in 1958 and began refining crude oil in 1963. It had a capacity of 3.3 ...

, ceased in the late 1990s.

Re-sleepering and electrification

In 2008, the State Government announced a plan to upgrade and electrify the Seaford line with the Federal Government also to provide funding. In December 2009, Stage 1 of the Noarlunga line upgrade was completed between

and

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. This work saw the track removed, with the track bed and track renewed.

Dual gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...

sleepers ''Sleepers'' is a 1996 American legal crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 book of the same name. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin H ...

were laid to allow for the line to be converted to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

at a future date. Stage 2 commenced in February 2011 with the line closed for six months and continued the upgrade works between Oaklands and Noarlunga. Most stations (

Seacliff Seacliff comprises a beach, an estate and a harbour. It lies east of North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. History The beach and estate command a strategic position at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, and control of the area has been conte ...

, Marino, Marino Rocks and Lonsdale) received a minor upgrade due to the presence of asbestos in many station shelters, necessitating their replacement. On 2 January 2013, the line closed to allow for its electrification and extension, with trains being replaced by bus services. Rail services resumed on 1 December 2013. The completed project was opened by the South Australian Transport and Infrastructure Minister

Tom Koutsantonis Anastasious "Tom" Koutsantonis is an Australian politician in the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, representing the seats of West Torrens (2002−current) and Peake (1997−2002) as a Labor member in the South Australian ...

on 18 January 2014. Electric train services commenced in February 2014 after testing was completed on the line. At the time, only four A-City

s had entered service, so most services continued to be operated by 3000 class railcars.

Seaford extension

In 2005, the

State Government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

announced the line would be extended 5.5 kilometres to the southern suburb of Seaford. The plan was cancelled in December 2007 after a study concluded that the extension could not be justified. The government announced that it would retain the corridor to Aldinga for a possible extension further south in the future. In July 2008, a feasibility study was commissioned by the government into extending the line. This extension was given approval after the

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

announced a $291 million investment in the project as part of the 2009/10 Federal Budget. Construction started in 2011 with the extension opening on 23 February 2014.Rail revitalistaion Seaford rail extension
Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure
'' ABC Adelaide'' 23 February 2014 The extension included a new 1.2 kilometre elevated rail bridge over the

Onkaparinga River The Onkaparinga River, known as Ngangkiparri or Ngangkiparingga ("place of the women’s river") in the Kaurna language, is a river located in the Southern Adelaide region in the Australian state of South Australia. Rising in the Mount Lofty Ran ...

, a rail bridge over Old Honeypot Drive, and new railway stations at Seaford Meadows and Seaford. New road bridges were also constructed over the extension at Goldsmith Drive, Seaford Road and Lynton Terrace.

Future extension to Aldinga Beach

In 2019,

Renewal SA The Treasurer of South Australia is the Cabinet minister in the Government of South Australia who is responsible for the financial management of that state's budget sector. The Urban Renewal Authority, trading as Renewal SA, lies within the T ...

delivered a Draft Structure Plan of a 94 hectare area of land in Aldinga which is set to include a new school and a train station.

Route

The line runs south from Adelaide station paralleling the Belair line as far as Goodwood. It then branches off in a south-west direction through the suburbs of

Edwardstown Edwardstown is an inner southern-western suburb located 6 km southwest of Adelaide in the City of Marion. In 1989 the suburb of Edwardstown was split, with the portion east of South Road becoming Melrose Park. This occurred as the suburb ...

Oaklands Park Oaklands Park is a southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Marion. The Marion Shopping Centre is a major feature of the suburb. History On 14 December 1906, Oaklands was bought by Thomas Currie Tait for £15,000. In 19 ...

and

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...

to the coast at

, where it turns south towards

in the southern suburbs. The line was known as the Marino and Hallett Cove line when it finished at Hallett Cove. Most trains terminated at Marino, with only about a quarter going to Hallett Cove. Like the rest of the Adelaide network, the line is broad gauge.

have been laid to allow for the line to be converted to

at a future date. The line is 35.9 kilometres long and is the second longest of the Adelaide suburban railway lines. The line is double track throughout. The

Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation spanning 8,500km across five states, 39 worksites and more than 50 First Nations. ...

standard-gauge main line passes over the line just south of Goodwood station, and the Flinders line branches off south of

Woodlands Park Woodlands Park is a small, affluent and quiet suburb on the western outskirts of West Auckland, New Zealand. Nestled in the Waitākere Ranges, Woodlands Park lies in a valley, bush clad hills separating it from Titirangi (to the north east), P ...

Line guide

Former stations

* – opened 1913, closed 2013. * – closed 1994. * – opened 2005 for seasonal use, closed 2013. * – closed 1976.

Services

Trains to and from Adelaide operate every 5–10 minutes during the weekday peak periods, every 10–20 minutes off-peak on weekdays, and every 30 minutes on weekends plus in the late evening. Previously, some stations were also serviced by trains from

and from the Flinders branch line on weekdays.Seaford & Tonsley timetable
Adelaide Metro 20 July 2014

Gallery

File:KeswickRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg, The now demolished Keswick station, with

Adelaide Parklands Terminal Adelaide Parklands Terminal, formerly known as Keswick Terminal, is the interstate passenger railway station in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the only station in the world where passengers can board trains on both north-south and east-west ...

in the background File:AdelaideRail 1.jpg, Goodwood station in 2005, with the

Goodwood Overpass The Goodwood Overpass carries the Glenelg tram line over the Adelaide-Wolseley railway line in Adelaide, Australia. History When originally built, the Glenelg tram line crossed over the Adelaide-Wolseley railway line via a Level junction, flat j ...

in the background File:2kwood.jpg, Woodlands Park station in 2007 File:OaklandsRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg, Oaklands station between 2008 and 2019 File:BrightonRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg,

Brighton station Brighton railway station is the southern terminus of the Brighton Main Line in England, and the principal station serving the city of Brighton, East Sussex. It is from via . The station is managed by Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates ...

File:MarinoRocksRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg, Marino Rocks station File:HallettCoveBeachRailwayStationAdelaide.jpg, Hallett Cove Beach station File:Noarlunga Centre Interchange 1.jpg,

, prior to 2014

References

External links

Seaford to City - Adelaide Metro website
{{Adelaide public transport Railway lines in South Australia Railway lines opened in 1978 Transport in Adelaide 1978 establishments in Australia