Outer Harbor and Port Dock lines

The Outer Harbor line is a suburban commuter service in Adelaide, South Australia, that runs from Adelaide station through the north western suburbs to Port Adelaide and Outer Harbor.

Outer Harbor and Port Dock lines
3100 class railcar crossing the Port River
Overview
Locale	Adelaide, South Australia
Termini	Adelaide Port Dock Osborne (peak only) Outer Harbor
Stations	23
Service
Type	Commuter rail
Operator(s)	Adelaide Metro
Rolling stock	3000/3100 class
History
Opened	1856 (to Port Dock) 1908 (to Outer Harbor)
Technical
Line length	21.9 km (13.6 mi)
Number of tracks	2 (to Midlunga) 1 (Midlunga to Outer Harbor)
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Route map km Balloon loop closed 1980s 21.9 Outer Harbor Golf course entrance Klingberg Drive 20.5 North Haven Osborne Road 19.6 Osborne 18.8 Midlunga Gedville Road 18.2 Taperoo Strathfield Terrace 17.2 Draper Kolapore Avenue 16.4 Largs North Fletcher Road Jetty Road 15.5 Largs Largs Jetty Closed 1908 Wills Street Hargrave Street 14.6 Peterhead Harris Street Semaphore Road Semaphore line 13.8 Glanville Birkenhead Loop to Pelican Point Hart Street 13.1 Ethelton Under reconstruction Wirra Drive Port River Old Port Road Church Street 11.7 Port Adelaide over Commercial Road Lipson Street National Railway Museum 12.0 Port Dock Demolished 1981, new build 2024 Grand Junction Road Rosewater loop to Dry Creek 10.2 Alberton Fussell Place 9.2 Cheltenham 8.7 Cheltenham Racecourse Closed 2009 Cheltenham Parade 8.6 St Clair Finsbury line Grange line 7.5 Woodville Woodville Road 7.5 Woodville Park Kilkenny Road/David Terrace 6.0 Kilkenny Private road 5.1 West Croydon over Rosetta street 4.2 Croydon Queen Street/Elizabeth Street North-South Motorway Coglin Street Chief Street East Street 2.7 Bowden (original site) 1856–2017 Gibson Street 2.4 Bowden Park Terrace to Port Augusta Gawler line 1.7 Torrens Bridge Closed 1888 River Torrens to Melbourne Belair, Seaford and Flinders lines Adelaide Depot Closed 2011 0.0 Adelaide km broad gauge standard gauge dual gauge

The Port Dock line is a service that shares its route with the Outer Harbor line until north of Alberton, where it branches along a short spur to Port Dock station in Port Adelaide.

History

Opening in 1856, the inaugural 11.9 kilometres (7.4 miles) railway between Adelaide and Port Dock railway station — named Port Adelaide until 1916 — was the second railway in the colony of South Australia, and the first government-owned railway in the British Empire. Port Adelaide junction was created when the railway was extended to cross the Port River to Le Fevre Peninsula. As industry developed on the west side of the Port River, a deeper harbour was required. Initially, this was at Semaphore, with the railway extended in 1882 as the now-closed Semaphore railway line to service the overseas shipping jetty there. The line was subsequently extended 11.2 kilometres (7.0 miles) to Outer Harbor.

The original Port Dock station was closed in 1981, with part of its site later repurposed for the National Railway Museum. Some land was reclaimed for track leading to, and platforms of, a new-build station in 2024.

21st century renewal

The line between Port Adelaide Junction and Glanville was dual gauge until December 2009, when the standard gauge rails were removed. Outer Harbor was configured as a balloon loop so that trains could make the return journey without shunting, requiring a turntable or triangle, or requiring the driver to change ends. The loop was cut when rail freight moved off the broad-gauge Outer Harbor railway to the nearby standard-gauge line on the eastern side of the peninsula.

Various plans to modify the line have been proposed. In 2008, the state government announced a plan to rebuild the Outer Harbor line in preparation for the line to be electrified with the federal government also to provide funding. In the 2011 budget, it was announced that electrification of the Outer Harbor line had been deferred until 2016. In June 2012, the project was cancelled.

In May 2016, the state government announced that 1.4 kilometres (0.87 mi) of the line would be lowered in a grade separation project to pass below the Adelaide to Port Augusta and Gawler lines; a new Bowden station was also to be built. In 2016 the contract was awarded to a consortium of Laing O'Rourke, AECOM and KBR.

The state government again considered electrifying the line or converting it to light rail. A 2016 report into potential light rail projects in Adelaide considered two options for the future of the line. The first would electrify the heavy-rail line and provide a short spur-line to central Port Adelaide (Port Dock). The option would convert the line to light rail and add a new on-street branch to Semaphore; a light rail conversion would also require the conversion or closure of the Grange line, and several options for the future of that line were also presented. The spur line and a new Port Dock station, after several delays and costing increases, were opened in September 2024.

In January 2017, the line was closed for three weeks alongside the Grange line to building an overpass over South Road and the North–South Motorway.

In 2024, transport minister Tom Koutsantonis flagged another possible electrification and an extension of the line to accommodate workers at the Australian Submarine Corporation at Osborne.

Torrens Junction separation

There are a total of five railway tracks on three bridges in parallel across the River Torrens. North of this bridge, the two tracks of the Gawler line continues north, as does the standard gauge railway track, while the two tracks of the Outer Harbor line swing away northwest. Until late 2017, the Outer Harbor tracks were the pair between the Gawler tracks on the east and the standard gauge track which was built in 1982 on the west. This meant that Outer Harbor and Grange trains had to cross the track that carries rail freight between Melbourne and the main freight terminals in Adelaide, Perth and Darwin. In 2017, the Torrens Junction project worked to remove this operational conflict. The outcome was to make the Gawler trains use the central pair of tracks, while the Outer Harbor line now uses the eastern pair across the bridge, then descends into a trench and passes underneath the Gawler and standard gauge lines and Park Terrace which had previously been a busy level crossing. The Bowden railway station was also demolished and rebuilt at a new lower level.

The Outer Harbor line was closed (and consequently also Grange services) along with a portion of the Gawler line in April, June, July, and August 2017 to work on the Torrens Rail Junction Project. The entire line was closed on 24 September 2017, and reopened on 15 January 2018, having been delayed from a 3 December opening.

Former branch lines

• Semaphore railway line (closed 29 October 1978) Branched from the Outer Harbor line at Glanville station, traversing Jetty Road to the pier / jetty.

• Finsbury railway line (closed 17 August 1979) Branched from the Outer Harbor line starting Woodville station.

Route

The line is double track from Adelaide to Midlunga, then single for the final three kilometres to Outer Harbor; the spur line to Port Dock is single track with a passing loop. The northern section of the line runs along the middle of the narrow Lefevre Peninsula with stations at regular intervals. The line serves 22 stations in 22 kilometres (14 miles).

Line guide

Outer Harbor and Port Dock Lines
Name	Distance from Adelaide	Year opened	Serving suburbs	Connections
Adelaide	0.0 km	1856	Adelaide	Belair Flinders Gawler Seaford Bus Tram
Bowden	2.4 km	1856	Bowden
Croydon	4.2 km	1888	Croydon
West Croydon	5.1 km	1915	West Croydon
Kilkenny	6.0 km	1881	Kilkenny, Woodville Park
Woodville Park	6.8 km	1936	Woodville, Woodville Park
Woodville	7.5 km	1856	St Clair, Woodville	Grange Bus
St Clair	8.6 km	2014	St Clair, Woodville
Cheltenham	9.2 km	1959	Cheltenham
Alberton	10.2 km	1856	Alberton
Port Dock Line
Port Dock	12.0 km	2024	Port Adelaide	Bus Interchange
Outer Harbor Line
Port Adelaide	11.7 km	1916	Port Adelaide	Bus
Ethelton	13.1 km	1916	Ethelton, New Port
Glanville	13.8 km	1878	Glanville, New Port	Bus
Peterhead	14.6 km	1911	Birkenhead, Exeter, Peterhead
Largs	15.5 km	1907	Largs Bay
Largs North	16.4 km	1916	Largs North
Draper	17.2 km	Un­known	Largs North
Taperoo	18.2 km	1908	Taperoo
Midlunga	18.8 km	1921	Osborne
Osborne	19.6 km	1908	North Haven, Osborne
North Haven	20.5 km	1981	North Haven
Outer Harbor	21.9 km	1926	North Haven, Outer Harbor

Services

The Outer Harbor and Port Dock lines shares part of their route with the Grange line. All passenger train services are operated by 3000/3100 class railcars. Trains run every 30 minutes between 5am and midnight on weekdays and weekends.

Prior to the reopening of Port Dock railway station, most services on the Outer Harbor line stopped at all stations. From 25 August 2024, Port Dock services stop at all stations, while most Outer Harbor services will run express between Adelaide and Woodville while also skipping Cheltenham.

Additional services

During special events, such as AFL matches, Adelaide Metro will typically run extra Osborne services. Unlike the regular weekday peak services, these Osborne services stop at all stations.

As Outer Harbor railway station is in close proximity to the Port Adelaide Passenger Terminal, the Outer Harbor line is regularly utilised by cruise ship passengers during the summer cruise season. When larger cruise ships are in port, Adelaide Metro often runs an express train service between Outer Harbor and Adelaide.

References

• Thompson, M. (1988). Rails Through Swamp and Sand – A History of the Port Adelaide Railway. Port Dock Station Railway Museum. ISBN 0-9595073-6-1.

External links

• Outer Harbor to City - Adelaide Metro