Dry Creek–Port Adelaide railway line

The Dry Creek to Port Adelaide railway is an eight-kilometre east–west line running through Adelaide’s north-western suburbs. The line is managed by the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) and is an important link between Port Adelaide, Pelican Point and the main interstate rail routes which link Adelaide with Melbourne, Perth, Darwin and Sydney. Prior to 1988, a limited local passenger service operated, stopping at five intermediate stations along the line. Since May 1988, the line has been freight-only.

Dry Creek-Port Adelaide railway line
Crossing on the Dry Creek Railway Line, Port Adelaide, South Australia, c. 1905
Overview
Type	freight only since 1988
Status	Operational
Locale	AU-SA
Termini	Dry Creek railway station Port Dock originally, now Outer Harbor
Operation
Opened	1 February 1868 (1868-02-01)
Events
Converted to dual gauge	1982
Passenger service ended	May 1988
Extended across Port River	August 2008
Technical
Track gauge	dual gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) standard gauge 4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Old gauge	5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)
Route map * = Broad gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) only. = Standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) or dual gauge Dry Creek Gawler line to Gawler Gawler line (1600 mm) to Adelaide Adelaide-Crystal Brook line to Crystal Brook Adelaide-Crystal Brook line (1435 mm) to Melbourne Magazine Road Barker Inlet South Road Crossing Loop - Bishop (Closed 1987) Wingfield Railway Terrace Hanson Road Cormack Road (Closed 1987) North Arm Road One Steel North Arm Road Rosewater Loop (Disused)   Finsbury line to Woodville (1600 mm, closed 1979, dismantled 1985) Eastern Parade (Closed 1987) Eastern Parade Grand Junction Road (Closed 1988) Grand Junction Road Bedford Street Newcastle Street Port River Expressway Rosewater (Closed 1988) Kerry Logistics Container Terminal Canning Street Perkins Drive Russell Street Outer Harbor line to Adelaide (1600 mm) Western Mining Grand Junction Road Port Adelaide 'A' Cabin Viterra Grain Silos National Railway Museum Port Adelaide Commercial Road until 1981 Mary MacKillop Bridge Port River Ethelton Outer Harbor line to Outer Harbor (1600 mm) Jenkins Street Nelson Street Elder Road Birkenhead Loop (Closed 2008) Stirling Street M Berth Access Road Mobil Oil Sidings Elder Road Caltex Access Road Willochra Street Coal Gantry (Closed) Electric Works (Closed) ICI (Closed 1980) Penrice Soda Products (Closed 2014) to Outer Harbor line at Osborne facing Midlunga Hamilton Avenue Bolvay Road Vietch Road Viterra Grain Terminal Pelican Point Crossing Loop 1550m Pelican Point Road Dubai Ports Container Terminal Mckenzie Intermodal Terminal

History

The Dry Creek to Port Adelaide railway opened on 1 February 1868. Its original purpose was to allow goods and minerals from South Australia’s mid-north and the Murray River (at Morgan) to reach the Port without needing to travel via Adelaide. This line ran directly into Port Dock station (now closed) which was Port Adelaide’s main rail yard in the 19th century.

Over the years, various alterations were made to the line as branch lines and goods yards opened and subsequently closed. One of the most important additions was the Rosewater Loop, which opened on 14 November 1915. The Rosewater Loop was built to help alleviate congestion at Port Dock yard. It linked at Port Adelaide "A" Junction with a new route to Glanville via the Commercial Road viaduct and Ethelton and helped divert all through trains away from the Port Dock bottleneck. This relatively new addition to the railway infrastructure became the main line.

In 1978, ownership and control of the Dry Creek - Port Adelaide line shifted from the State Government controlled State Transport Authority (STA) to the Federal Government controlled Australian National (AN). However the STA continued to operate local passenger trains over the route. The station and goods yards at Port Dock closed in 1981 and the original route into Port Adelaide through the Gillman marshalling yards closed when the Gillman yards were removed in the early 1990s. In 1988, the old Port Dock became the site of the National Railway Museum and is still connected to the Adelaide Metro network, although rarely sees any use.

Renewal

In 1982, the line was converted from broad gauge to dual gauge track. This coincided with AN’s conversion of the Crystal Brook to Adelaide line to standard gauge that same year. Following conversion of the Adelaide to Melbourne corridor to standard gauge in 1995, a south-to-west triangle was constructed at Dry Creek. This link allows trains from Melbourne and the Islington Freight Terminal to travel directly to Port Adelaide without reversing in Dry Creek yard. This section of track is standard gauge only.

In August 2008, work was completed on two new bridges across the Port River at Port Adelaide, downstream of the inner harbour.[1] One of these, the Mary MacKillop Bridge, diverted trains away from the Rosewater Loop and allows them to completely bypass the suburban rail network in Port Adelaide. The other bridge is for road traffic on the Port River Expressway, which has been built parallel and closer to Port Adelaide. The new bridges have caused a substantial change (and improvement) in road and rail traffic patterns around Port Adelaide. In particular, all rail freight to and from the Le Fevre Peninsula now travel along the Gillman Junction to Port Flat line and access the existing line to Pelican Point via the new bridge.

Expanded handling facilities were constructed at Pelican Point and Outer Harbor, including a bulk grain handling terminal and overall rail tonnage is expected to increase. The main traffic using the Dry Creek -Port Adelaide line today includes: intermodal freight trains (import/export containers); bulk grain trains from agricultural areas of South Australia for export via Port Adelaide; and other freight trains servicing industrial installations on the Le Fevre Peninsula (such as the Mobil oil terminal).

During 2019 ARTC commenced work to progressively remove the broad gauge rail and related infrastructure, retaining standard gauge only throughout.

Passenger services

Apart from a short stretch at the western end, the Dry Creek to Port Adelaide line travels through either industrial areas or undeveloped swampland. This meant there has never been much significant passenger traffic on the line, apart from a few trains in the morning and another couple in the afternoon for workers commuting to various industrial premises. In the early years passengers were carried along the line in carriages attached to goods trains.

With introduction of Brill railcars to secondary services during the Webb era (mid-late 1920s), things improved and several return trips ran each weekday between Dry Creek and Port Dock using the new railcars. Intermediate stops were available at Wingfield (3.5 km from Dry Creek); North Arm Road (4.5 km); Eastern Parade (5.0 km); Grand Junction Road (6.0 km); and Rosewater (7.0 km). None of these stops had any substantial passenger facilities. They were either short platforms or small step-down structures by the lineside.

With the opening of the Holden car factory at Elizabeth in 1959, extra trains were added from Port Dock running through to GMH Elizabeth at shift-change time. By 1969, trains no longer stopped at Grand Junction Road or Eastern Parade stations. When Port Dock station closed in 1981, these trains were diverted to run to or from Outer Harbor via Commercial Road station.

By 1987, the STA had decided continued operation of the route was uneconomic. Trains ceased to call at Wingfield, North Arm Road and Eastern Parade stations after 31 May 1987. All passenger trains were withdrawn one year later and Rosewater and Grand Junction Road stations closed after services ceased on 29 May 1988.

Line guide (passenger)

Parking / Park ‘n’ Ride / Hi Frequency

Station	Image	Opened	Additional information
Port Dock		1856-04	Terminus; closed 13 September 1981 Repurposed as National Railway Museum on 10 December 1988 Proposed reopening in 2018
Rosewater		1916	Closed 29 May 1988
Grand Junction Road		?	Closed 29 May 1988
Eastern Parade		?	Closed 31 May 1987
North Arm Road		?	Closed 31 May 1987
Wingfield		?	Closed 31 May 1987
Dry Creek		1856	Former branch station; still in use as part of the Gawler line.

Route

The route is mainly single track and is dual gauge throughout. Both broad gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) trains regularly use the line. The section between Dry Creek and Gillman Junction is particularly busy, with the ARTC opening a crossing loop at Wingfield in 2009 to help ease delays.[2][3]

Heading from Dry Creek, the line divides at Gillman Junction. The mainline heads northwest to the eastern bank of the Port River, where another branch heads to the rail yard & wharves at Port Flat[4][5] The mainline continues over Perkins Drive towards the Mary MacKillop Bridge, over the port river and onto the Lefevre Peninsula. This section of the line was completed in 2008, along with the Port River Expressway project. From here the line follows the western side of the Port River through Birkenhead and Osborne to the new container facility and grain terminal at Pelican Point and wharves at Outer Harbor.[4]

The other branch, known as the Rosewater Loop, has been disused since late 2008. The line curves south-west through the suburbs of Ottoway and Rosewater to join Adelaide Metro's suburban line to Outer Harbor at Port Adelaide Junction ('A' Cabin), just north of Alberton.[6][7] Trains on this route continued along Adelaide Metro tracks over the Port Adelaide Viaduct and through the stations at Port Adelaide and Ethelton before branching off just south of Glanville station. From Glanville an industrial line, the Birkenhead Loop, followed the southern side of Semaphore Road where it joined the current route just north of the Mary Mackillop Bridge. This line was closed and pulled up in 2008 with the completion of the new line over the Port River.

References

1. Premier Mike Rann opens the Diver Derrick and Mary Mackillop road and rail bridges at Pt Adel ABC News 1 August 2008
2. New rail loop in memory of a hard working Aussie Australian Rail Track Corporation 1 April 2009
3. News in Brief 20-26 May 2009 Archived 16 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine Rail Express 27 May 2009
4. "Pelican Point Line" (PDF). SA Track & Signal. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
5. D4 Mile End to Dry Creek to Outer Harbor Archived 10 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine Australian Rail Track Corporation
6. Port Line SA Track & Signal
7. Cheltenham - Etherton Archived 4 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine SA Track & Signal

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