Outer Harbor line

The Outer Harbor 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 km in length, and shares part of its run with the Grange and Port Dock lines. It is operated by Adelaide Metro.

History
Opening in 1856, the inaugural 11.9 km railway between Adelaide and Port Dock railway station 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 km to Outer Harbor.

21st century renewal
The line between Port Adelaide Junction and Glanville was dual gauge until early December 2009 when the standard gauge rails were removed. Outer Harbor had a balloon loop railway so that trains could be turned around without shunting or requiring a turntable or triangle. 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 Harbour 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 1.4 km of the line would be lowered in a grade separation project to pass below the Adelaide to Port Augusta and Gawler lines with a new Bowden station being built as part of the project. In December 2016 the contract was awarded to a consortium of Laing O'Rourke, AECOM and KBR.

As of 2016, the State Government was again considering 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 option would electrify the heavy rail line and provide a short spur-line to central Port Adelaide. The second 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 - several options for the future of that line were also presented. The spur line is set to open in August 2024 after several delays.

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

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.

Route
The line is double track from Adelaide to Midlunga, then single for the final three kilometres to Outer Harbour. 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 across 22 kilometres (14 mi) of track. The majority of stations are ground level designs.

Services
The Outer Harbor line shares part of its 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 mid-July 2024, all services are expected to run express to Woodville, then limited stops to Alberton, then all stations to Outer Harbor, with the exception of the final service which will stop at all stations.

Weekday Morning Peak
There are several additional services that operate on the Outer Harbor line during the morning peak period.

Weekday Evening Peak
In contrast to the morning peak, in the evening, all services from Adelaide stop at all stations, with the exception of services which terminate at Osborne.

Other 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 will often run an express train service between Outer Harbor and Adelaide in the morning.