Marree railway line

Marree railway line
Marree railway line
Overview
Termini	Stirling North; Marree;
Continues from	Trans-Australian Railway
Continues as	Central Australia Railway
Service
Operator(s)	Commonwealth Railways
History
Opened	27 July 1957
Closed	27 April 2016
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map
Route map
Central Australia Railway
	Adelaide–Darwin railway line
	to Darwin
	Adelaide–Darwin railway line
	to Port Augusta
	Northern Territory
	South Australia
	Adelaide–Darwin railway line
	to Alice Springs

The Marree railway line is located in the Australian state of South Australia.

History

As a result of the opening up of the Leigh Creek Coalfield in the late 1940s and capacity restrictions on the existing narrow gauge Central Australia Railway via the Flinders Ranges, Marree and Quorn, a new standard gauge line was built, opening on 17 May 1956 from Stirling North on the outskirts of Port Augusta to Telford Cut and on 27 July 1957 to Marree.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] The line was extended to Marree because of the volume of cattle traffic coming off the Birdsville Track.^[5]

As well as freight trains, the new line was served by CB railcar services and The Ghan. 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. ^[6] Following the opening of a new line from Tarcoola to Alice Springs 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.^[2]^[3] At Stirling North the line continues to the Northern Power Station via a balloon loop.^[7]^{[failed verification]} With the impending closure of the power station, the last train ran on the line on 27 April 2016.^[8]^{[needs update]}

In 2017, control of the Leigh Creek railway line was transferred from Flinders Power to the state government's Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure.^[9] In March 2018, Bowmans Rail established a new intermodal rail terminal adjacent to the construction site for the Bungala Solar Power Farm 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 farm.^[10]

Stations

Stations included the following: (from south to north):^[7]

References

^ Gauge Change on Leigh Creek Line Soon Adelaide Advertiser 11 August 1950
^ ^a ^b Bromby, Robin (2004). The Railway Age in Australia. South Melbourne: Thomas Lothian. p. 64. ISBN 0 734407 15 7.
^ ^a ^b Newland, Andrew; Quinlan, Howard (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. p. 67. ISBN 0-909650-49-7.
^ Port Augusta to Marree Chris' Commonwealth Railways
^ "Remember When" Railway Digest February 1999 page 45
^ "CB class Budd Railcars". Comrails. Chris Drymalik. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
^ ^a ^b "NRG Leigh Creek Coalfield Line" (PDF). SA Track and Signal. Graham Vincent. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
^ Reid, Khama (29 April 2016). "Leigh Creek coal train completes final journey to Port Augusta ahead of power station closure". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Commission. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
^ "Leigh Creek Railway". Flinders Power. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
^ Green, Amy (15 March 2018). "Port Augusta Intermodal open for business". The Transcontinental. Retrieved 15 March 2018.

[1] Gauge Change on Leigh Creek Line Soon Adelaide Advertiser 11 August 1950

[RBromby-2] Bromby, Robin (2004). The Railway Age in Australia. South Melbourne: Thomas Lothian. p. 64. ISBN 0 734407 15 7.

[NewlandQuinlan-3] Newland, Andrew; Quinlan, Howard (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. p. 67. ISBN 0-909650-49-7.

[4] Port Augusta to Marree Chris' Commonwealth Railways

[5] "Remember When" Railway Digest February 1999 page 45

[Comrails_CB_Class-6] "CB class Budd Railcars". Comrails. Chris Drymalik. Retrieved 16 June 2021.

[SCXU1-7] "NRG Leigh Creek Coalfield Line" (PDF). SA Track and Signal. Graham Vincent. Retrieved 19 February 2018.

[ABC-8] Reid, Khama (29 April 2016). "Leigh Creek coal train completes final journey to Port Augusta ahead of power station closure". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Commission. Retrieved 19 February 2018.

[FlindersPower-9] "Leigh Creek Railway". Flinders Power. Retrieved 19 February 2018.

[10] Green, Amy (15 March 2018). "Port Augusta Intermodal open for business". The Transcontinental. Retrieved 15 March 2018.

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