The Marree railway line is located in the Australian state of

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

As a result of the opening up of the

Leigh Creek Coalfield Telford Cut was an open-cut coal mine, now closed, in the Leigh Creek Coalfield in South Australia. For the 72 years between its opening in 1943 and its closure, the mine supplied sub-bituminous coal to fire power stations first in Adelaide the ...

in the late 1940s and capacity restrictions on the existing

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

Central Australia Railway The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Aug ...

via the

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabi ...

, Marree and

Quorn Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products, or the company that makes them. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 14 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin. Quorn is sold as bo ...

, a new

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 ...

line was built, opening on 17 May 1956 from

Stirling North Stirling North is a town located east of Port Augusta in the Australian state of South Australia. The now abandoned Marree railway line forms the official border line separating the two towns. Primarily, Stirling North is a satellite town to Po ...

on the outskirts of

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

Telford Cut Telford Cut was an open-cut coal mine, now closed, in the Leigh Creek Coalfield in South Australia. For the 72 years between its opening in 1943 and its closure, the mine supplied sub-bituminous coal to fire power stations first in Adelaide the ...

and on 27 July 1957 to Marree. The line was extended to Marree because of the volume of cattle traffic coming off the

Birdsville Track The Birdsville Track is a notable outback road in Australia. The track runs between Birdsville in south-western Queensland and Marree, a small town in the north-eastern part of South Australia. It traverses three deserts along the route, the St ...

. As well as freight trains, the new line was served by CB railcar services and ''

The Ghan ''The Ghan'' is an experiential tourism oriented passenger train service that operates between the northern and southern coasts of Australia, through the cities of Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor. O ...

''. The CB class was pulled from service in 1976 by Australian National Railways (ANR), leaving the standard gauge Ghan and a mixed train as the only passenger rail services on the line. Following the opening of a new line from Tarcoola to

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

in 1980, the line became the only rail connection to Marree after the closure of the narrow gauge Central Australia Railway from Alice Springs, and The Ghan was rerouted to no longer go through Marree, leaving a mixed train as the only passenger service on the line. The mixed train was replaced with a goods only train in 1985, and the line was curtailed to its present terminus at Telford Cut on 10 June 1987. At Stirling North the line continues to the Northern Power Station via a

balloon loop A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop ( North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains. Bal ...

. With the impending closure of the power station, the last train ran on the line on 27 April 2016. In 2017, control of the Leigh Creek railway line was transferred from Flinders Power to the state government's

Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure The Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT), formerly the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI), is a large department of the government of South Australia. The website was renamed , but without a formal announce ...

. In March 2018,

Bowmans Rail Bowmans Rail is an Australian railway operator hauling freight in South Australia. History Bowmans Rail was founded as Bowmans Intermodal in 2003. It was a joint venture between hay processor and exporter Balco, and logistics operator Patrick Co ...

established a new intermodal rail terminal adjacent to the construction site for the Bungala Solar Power Project about 12 km north of Port Augusta. As well as construction materials for the power station, the terminal was expected to handle about 2000 containers per year, though the terminal has not been used since completion of delivering materials to the Solar Power Project.

Stations

Stations included the following: (from south to north):

References

{{Reflist Closed railway lines in South Australia Far North (South Australia) Railway lines opened in 1957 Railway lines closed in 2016 Standard gauge railways in Australia