Belair line


The Belair line is a suburban rail commuter route in greater Adelaide, South Australia, that runs from the Adelaide railway station to Belair in the Adelaide Hills via the Adelaide-Wolseley line using diesel 3000/3100 class railcars. This part of the Adelaide–Wolseley line comprised two broad-gauge tracks until the Adelaide–Wolseley line was converted to standard gauge in 1995. Now two separate single-track lines run in parallel from Adelaide to Belair: the Belair commuter line – still broad gauge – and the line to Wolseley thence interstate – standard gauge – line. The latter carries freight except for four long-distance passenger trains per week.

History

The first part of the Adelaide-Wolseley line – from Adelaide to Belair and Bridgewater – opened in 1883. In 1919, a new alignment was built around Sleeps [Hill railway station|Sleeps Hill] as part of the duplication of the line. This involved a double-track tunnel being built to replace two tunnels and two viaducts. The new alignment was also shorter. In 1928, the line was duplicated from Eden Hills to Blackwood [railway station, Adelaide|Blackwood] and on to Belair.
State [Transport Authority (South Australia)|State Transport Authority] passenger services ceased beyond Belair in 1987. In 1995, the track used by Adelaide-bound services was converted to standard gauge as part of the [Adelaide-Wolseley railway line|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 reopened in 2014.

Re-sleepering and electrification

In 2008, the Government of South Australia announced a plan to rebuild the Belair line. The line closed on 26 April 2009, when buses replaced trains. Both track bed and track were renewed. Dual-gauge sleepers were laid to allow for the line to be converted to standard gauge in future – this is not planned in the immediate future due to extra engineering work and complications with the standard gauge line. The line reopened on 23 August 2009.
, the standard-gauge track is owned by the Australian Rail Track Corporation and continues beyond Belair as the Adelaide-Wolseley railway line. The track is used by freight trains operated by Aurizon, Pacific National and SCT Logistics, and by the twice-weekly Overland passenger service to Melbourne operated by Journey Beyond.
The Adelaide end of the Belair line was closed from 1 January 2013 to 14 July 2013 to allow electrification of the line from Adelaide to Goodwood and construction of a grade separation at Goodwood Junction. Relatively little work was performed on the Belair line itself. In 2021 the new operator of the line, Keolis Downer, enforced a limit on the number of bicycles carried in railcars, which affected patronage of the Mitcham Hills [mountain bike circuit].

Route

All services are now 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 and every 60 minutes on weekends and public holidays. From 2006, because of the line becoming single, this was downgraded to every 36/24 minutes on weekdays. In 2018 trains depart at least twice every hour on weekdays, with as little as 10 minutes' waiting time during rush hour.

Former stations

  • – opened 1910s, relocated 1917, closed 1995.
  • – opened 1910s, closed 1995.
  • – opened 1913, closed 2013.
  • – closed 1994.
  • – opened 2005 for seasonal use, closed 2013.
  • – opened 1909, closed 1946.