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 carry railway vehicles with wheels matched to two different gauges. Such track is described as dual gauge – achieved either by addition of a third rail, if it will fit, or by two additional rails. Dual-gauge tracks are more expensive to configure with signals and sidings, and to maintain, than two separate single-gauge tracks. It is therefore usual to build dual-gauge or other multi-gauge tracks only when necessitated by lack of space or when tracks of two different gauges meet in marshalling yards or passenger stations. Dual-gauge tracks are by far the most common configuration, but triple-gauge tracks have been built in some situations.
Port Adelaide station is a railway station located on the Outer Harbor line. Situated in the north-western Adelaide suburb of Alberton, it is 11.7 kilometres from Adelaide station.
The rail network in Adelaide, South Australia, consists of four lines and 89 stations, totalling 132 km (82 mi). It is operated by Keolis Downer under contract from the Government of South Australia, and is part of the citywide Adelaide Metro public transport system.
Australians generally assumed in the 1850s that railways would be built by the private sector. Private companies built railways in the then colonies of Victoria, opened in 1854, and New South Wales, where the company was taken over by the government before completion in 1855, due to bankruptcy. South Australia's railways were government owned from the beginning, including a horse-drawn line opened in 1854 and a steam-powered line opened in 1856. In Victoria, the private railways were soon found not to be financially viable, and existing rail networks and their expansion were taken over by the colony. Government ownership also enabled railways to be built to promote development, even if not apparently viable in strictly financial terms. The railway systems spread from the colonial capitals, except in cases where geography dictated a choice of an alternate port.
With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot run through without some form of conversion between gauges, leading to passengers having to change trains and freight requiring transloading or transshipping; this can add delays, costs, and inconvenience to travel on such a route.
Gauntlet track or interlaced track is an arrangement in which railway tracks run parallel on a single track bed and are interlaced in such a way that only one pair of rails can be used at any time. Since this requires only slightly more width than a single track, all rails can be carried on the same crossties/sleepers. Trains run on the discrete pair of rails appropriate to their direction, track gauge or loading gauge.
The first railway in colonial South Australia was a line from the port of Goolwa on the River Murray to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot, which first operated in December 1853, before its completion in May 1854.
Alberton railway station is located on the Outer Harbor line. Situated in the north-western Adelaide suburb of Alberton, it is 10.2 kilometres from Adelaide station. The station is registered as a South Australian Heritage.
Port Dock railway station – named Port Adelaide until 1916 – was located in the commercial centre of Port Adelaide, South Australia at the corner of St Vincent Street and Lipson Street. It was the original terminus of the railway between Adelaide and Port Adelaide, which opened in 1856.
The Dry Creek–Port Adelaide railway line is an eight-kilometre east–west frieght railway 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.
The Outer Harbor railway line is a suburban branch line in Adelaide, South Australia. It runs from Adelaide station through the north western suburbs to Port Adelaide and Outer Harbor. It is 21.9 kilometres (13.6 mi) in length, and shares part of its run with the Grange line. It is operated by Adelaide Metro.
The Gawler railway line, also known as the Gawler Central railway line, is a suburban commuter railway line in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The Gawler Line is the most frequent and heavily patronised line in the Adelaide rail network.
The Grange railway line is a suburban branch line in Adelaide, South Australia.
Peterhead railway station is located on the Outer Harbor line. Situated in the north-western Adelaide suburb of Peterhead, it is 14.6 kilometres from Adelaide station.
Rail gauges in Australia display significant variations, which has presented an extremely difficult problem for rail transport on the Australian continent for over 150 years. As of 2022, there are 11,914 kilometres (7,403 mi) of narrow-gauge railways, 18,007 kilometres (11,189 mi) of standard gauge railways and 2,685 kilometres (1,668 mi) of broad gauge railways. In the 19th century, each of the colonies of Australia adopted their own gauges.
The rail network of Melbourne, Australia, has a significant number of railway lines and yards serving freight traffic. Rail transport in Victoria is heavily focused on Melbourne, and, as a consequence, much of the state's rail freight passes through the metropolitan network.
Ellen Street railway station was the second of six stations that operated successively between 1875 and the early 2010s to serve the rural maritime town of Port Pirie, 216 km (134 mi) by rail north of Adelaide, South Australia. Soon after construction of the line towards Gladstone began in 1875, an impromptu passenger service commenced. The inaugural station, Port Pirie South, was 800 metres from the centre of the town. Since two tracks had already been laid down the middle of Ellen Street to the wharves, a small corrugated iron shed was erected as a ticket and parcels office. The street-side location was unusual for the South Australian Railways. In 1902, when passenger traffic had increased greatly, a stone building was erected in a striking Victorian Pavilion style. After the tracks were removed in 1967 and the station closed, the building's design assured its retention as a museum of the National Trust of South Australia.
Port Pirie railway station (Mary Elie Street) was the fifth of six stations that operated at various times from 1876 to serve the small maritime town (later city) of Port Pirie, 216 kilometres (134 miles) by rail north of Adelaide, South Australia. As with several of Port Pirie's other stations before it, the station was built to accommodate a change of track gauge on railway lines leading into the town.
