Adelaide Tram
Adelaide Tram | |
---|---|
Basic information | |
Country | Australia |
city | Adelaide |
opening | 1873 |
operator | Office of the Rail Commissioner |
Transport network | Adelaide Metro |
Infrastructure | |
Route length | 15 km |
Gauge | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
Power system | 600 V DC overhead line |
business | |
Lines | 1 |
Clock in the peak hours | 5-10 min |
Clock in the SVZ | 15 minutes |
vehicles | 11 Bombardier Flexity Classic , 6 Alstom Citadis 302 |
In the past, the Adelaide tram had a very extensive tram network , which today still operates a 15-kilometer line from the center of the Australian city of Adelaide to the coastal suburb of Glenelg, which is called the Glenelg Tram after its destination . It runs every 15 minutes and is part of the Adelaide Metro public transport system . Travel is free on the section between North Terrace and South Terrace in Adelaide and along Jetty Road in Glenelg. Only on short sections in the inner cities of Adelaide and Glenelg does the route run in the street space, the rest runs on its own track.
Historic Type H railways dating from 1929 carried out all operations of the Adelaide Tramway through 2006. In January 2006, the first modern Flexity Classic lifts went into operation. Today, the scheduled operation is carried out with eleven, 30-meter-long, low-floor articulated railcars built by Bombardier in Germany .
In April 2007, construction began on a 1 mile extension of the route from Victoria Square to City West, along King William Street and North Terrace. Scheduled operations on this extension began on October 14, 2007. A new bridge over South Road, replacing an existing intersection, opened on March 15, 2010. On March 22nd, another 2.8 kilometer extension from City West to the entertainment center was put into operation. There are plans to extend the tram further to Port Adelaide, Semaphore, Woodville and West Lakes.
history
The beginning
The Adelaide to Glenelg railway was built in 1873 by a private company, Adelaide, Glenelg & Suburban Railway Company Ltd. The original line had a completely different character than today's railway:
- It was built with a gauge of 1600 mm ( broad gauge ), today's tram is standard gauge (1435 mm).
- It was operated by steam locomotives, not electric trams.
- Most of the places between Glenelg and Adelaide were sparsely populated and undeveloped. The route ran through pastures and vegetable gardens.
- The line was largely single-track.
- It crossed the Main South Line at Goodwood at a level crossing , not an overpass.
- There were fewer stops and these were more like conventional train stations.
- The frequency of use of the route was much lower than it is today, so that knowledge of the timetable was essential for travel planning.
In December 1899, the private company was taken over by the state-controlled South Australian Railways (SAR), which continued steam operations on the route for about 30 years. In 1914, the terminus was withdrawn from Victoria Square (in central Adelaide) to South Terrace on the southern edge of downtown. Passengers had to switch to electric trams to reach their destination in the city.
Municipal Tramways Trust
In 1929, ownership and operations were transferred from South Australian Railways to the Municipal Tramways Trust . Steam operation on the line ended on April 2, 1929 and it was closed in order to be converted to standard gauge, electrified with 600 volts DC voltage and converted for tram operation. The Goodwood flyover was built at the time to separate the new tram tracks from the railroad.
30 H-class railcars for the route were built by A. Pengelley, a local manufacturer, based on the model of North American overland railways at the time. The route was reopened on December 14, 1929, with the terminus returning to Victoria Square.
There were a few peculiarities in the early years of operation, the most famous being the horse-drawn trams in the 1930s. These specially constructed wagons were used to move horses from the stables along the route to the racing course in Morphettville. This was a relic from the time of the steam train, which also had this function. Other remarkable features were the triple traction of H-class trains during rush hour and express trams that ran without stopping for most of the route. An express trip existed until 2006.
The Glenelg Tram was the only route that survived the closure of the Adelaider tram network in the late 1950s; This was mainly because of their own track structure, which enabled a high cruising speed and did not interfere with car traffic.
The type H wagons were gradually renewed in the 1970s, a second time in the late 1980s and more recently (five lanes) in 2000. During this renovation, toughened safety glass was used in the windows and wood paneling was through Fiberglass replaced, the bogies replaced, fluorescent tubes were used to illuminate the interior and reflector headlights and brake / warning lights were installed outside.
In 1986 the power supply was changed from pantographs to single-arm pantographs . This move coincided with the relocation of the depot from Angas Street in central Adelaide to the new facility in Glengowrie, near Glenelg.
Despite the various conversions and renovations, the entire character of the H-cars remained very close to the original condition. The interiors are still made of lacquered wood and glass with etched MTT logo and without heating or air conditioning. All trips are carried out with a team of driver and conductor, in the case of double units even with two conductors.
Recent developments
2005: Renewal of the track and vehicle fleet
May 2003 | The government of South Australia announces the planned renovation of the tram infrastructure and the purchase of new railcars. |
September 21, 2004 | The government announces that a contract has been signed with Bombardier for the delivery of nine new Flexity Classic trains. |
April 6, 2005 | Two more railways were ordered (making a total of eleven) to ensure operation on the line expansion in the city center. |
June 5, 2005 to August 7, 2005 |
The tram traffic was temporarily stopped and a rail replacement service was set up. In a 9-week construction phase, a large part of the route was renewed and concrete sleepers were installed. Most of the 21 stops have been equipped with higher platforms to enable level entry into the new low-floor trams . The overhead line was rebuilt and some minor changes were made to the H series railways and the Glengowrie depot. When tram traffic was resumed on August 8, 2005, the trips were still carried out with the type H, as no Flexity train had yet been delivered. |
September 2005 | The terminus at Moseley Square in Glenelg was redesigned as part of a complete redesign of the square. |
November 22, 2005 | The first new Flexity-Bahn (101) arrived at the Glengowrie depot. |
January 9, 2006 | After a phase of commissioning and staff training, the first two Flexity lifts (101 and 102) went into passenger service. |
2007: Extension to City West

April 6, 2005 | The government of South Australia has announced a 1.2 kilometer extension from Victoria Square along King William Street to Adelaide Railway Station. |
May 18, 2005 | The government has announced a feasibility study to extend the route from the Adelaide Oval cricket stadium to the North Adelaide district . |
February 2007 | Preparatory work begins on the Victoria Square - UNI West extension. |
April 6, 2007 | The laying of the tracks begins along North Terrace. |
August 6, 2007 | The new Victoria Square stop on the west side of the square as a replacement for the previous stop in the middle of the square goes into operation. |
September 2, 2007 | First test drives on the extension. Flexity 104 and H class 351 and 367 are used. 104 ran without problems, but 351 and 367 touched the median in the curve from King William Street to North Terrace. |
September 6, 2007 | H class 351 and 367 did another test drive on the extension. The median on the corner of North Terrace had been rebuilt beforehand and no further problems occurred. |
September 25, 2007 | H class 351 and 367 tested the new signal systems on the extension. Two trips were made for this purpose. |
September 29, 2007 | The first training trips in daylight took place using Flexity 106. |
October 14, 2007 | The tram extension opened to the public. A temporary shuttle service was established between Victoria Square and City West, while scheduled operations between Victoria Square and Glenelg continued. Cars 101 and 102 together with H class 351 and 367 carried out the opening run. 351 and 367 returned to the Glengowrie depot after the opening run. |
October 15, 2007 | Scheduled operations began with courses between Glenelg and City West and free shuttles between South Terrace and City West. It is still driven according to this scheme. |
Bridge over the South Road
The South Road flyover was announced in the 2007 budget and was to be built in conjunction with the Anzac Highway underpass. Work started in July 2009 and should be completed by the end of 2009. In December 2009 the bridge was opened to tram traffic, but the South Road underneath could not be opened to traffic until March 15, 2010.
2009–2010: Expansion to the entertainment center
June 5, 2008 | The extension to the entertainment center will be announced in the 2008 state budget. Planning begins shortly afterwards. |
November 27, 2008 | Cabinet approves A $ 100 million for the tram extension to the entertainment center. |
May 11, 2009 | Work begins on the route to the entertainment center. |
May 30, 2009 | Work begins on converting the Port Road bridge over various railway lines. |
October 10, 2009 | Permanent right-turn bans in and out of North Terrace to Newmarket Street, Gray Street, Liverpool Street and George Street will be put in place to provide a safe construction area and later undisturbed tram operation in the middle of North Terrace. |
November 5, 2009 | The first track sections will be laid in the median of Port Road at the Entertainment Center terminal. |
6-9 November 2009 | Port Road's Hindmarsh Bridge over the Torrens River will be closed to be converted for the tram. A detour will be set up for the temporarily closed section of Port Road between Adam Street / Park Terrace and Phillip's Street. |
20.-23. November 2009 | The first major section of the track laying begins with the laying of the track sections at the entertainment center |
February 22, 2010 | The first test drive with car 110 went without any problems. |
March 15, 2010 | The tram extension to the entertainment center has opened. |
Expansions planned for 2011–2018
June 5, 2008 | A further extension of the route to West Lakes / AAMI Stadium (2016), Port Adelaide and Semaphore (2018) will be announced in the 2008 budget. |
Problems
Because of the increasing popularity of the tram on the overland route after the extension, the capacity of the tram was exceeded dramatically. There were over 100,000 additional trips in the three months following November 2007 compared to the same period last year. This led to massive overcrowding of the trams and many passengers had to stay at the stops during rush hour. There were isolated voices that the extension of the tram line along King William Street and North Terrace was responsible for increased congestion in central Adelaide, but no evidence of this could be produced.
There have been a small number of derailments, the most recent occurring on Melbourne Cup day , November 6, 2007, with passengers stranded. On various occasions, some Flexity ropeways have failed.
vehicles
Until January 2006, all traffic on the Adelaide tram was provided by historic H-series trains from 1929. These trams were built for the electrification of the railway line to Glenelg and have much in common with the American interurban cars of the same time.
The H series are the longest articulated railcars in service in Australia and the second longest ever built. They were used in double traction during rush hour, and since the W2 trams were withdrawn from operations in Melbourne , they have been the oldest scheduled trams in Australia. Originally 30 type H cars were built with the numbers from 351 to 380.
From November 2005 the first members of the new vehicle fleet arrived in Australia from modern Flexity Classic trains, which went into scheduled operation in January 2006. Eleven 30-meter-long low-floor articulated railcars built by Bombardier Transportation in Germany have replaced the H-cars in daily traffic. As part of the 2008–2009 budget, the South Australian government announced that four more Flexity Classic lanes have been ordered from Bombardier to extend into the Entertainment Center. The wagon numbers of the previous fleet are from 101 to 111. The additional trams are numbered from 112 to 115.
Five completely overhauled H series railways were retained. They operated a limited "historical" timetable on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The H-class trains are currently not in operation, but they are being parked in the depot pending a decision on their future. They had been equipped with security measures similar to the new railways, including dead man's equipment and magnetic rail brakes . The surviving H-class cars have the numbers 351, 367, 370, 374 and 380. Three of the trains are currently parked near Tonsley.
In May 2009, it was announced that the government had purchased six Citadis 302 five-part ropeways manufactured in France by Alstom . These trams were originally purchased for the Ligero Metro in the Spanish capital, Madrid , but are now considered to be redundant. Each car costs A $ 3 million. From December 2009 they should go into operation in Adelaide. The former Madrid railways carried car numbers 165 to 170 in Madrid. The railways were delivered to Australia in two separate batches of three railways each. They first came to Melbourne to be converted in the Preston workshop of the Melbourne tram. The first delivery reached Melbourne on September 9, 2009. The next three trains arrived two months later on November 10, 2009 at the Preston workshop. On the following day, November 11th, the first train (now with car number 204 in the TransAdelaide numbering scheme, ex Madrid 167) left Melbourne for its 800 km journey to its new home Adelaide. At around 1 a.m. on November 13, 2009, she arrived at the Glengowrie depot. Early on Tuesday morning, November 17, 2009, the first test drive was observed on the depot - Glenelg section.
The table shows the former wagon numbers of MetroLigero and the new wagon numbers at TransAdelaide.
MetroLigero number: | TransAdelaide number: |
165 | 201 |
166 | 202 |
167 | 203 (originally arrived as 204) |
168 | 204 (originally arrived as 203) |
169 | 205 |
170 | 206 |
Stops
Adelaide Tram | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Glenelg Tram | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Web links
- Bay Tram Twilight.
- Adelaide Metro timetables and route maps
- Simon Lieschke's Tram Depictions
- Type H trams
- Bill's Glenelg Tram Pages
Individual evidence
- ^ The 'Eureka' Steam Motor of South Australia, Eardley, Gifford, Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, February 1974, pp. 27-29
- ↑ Glenelg Tram Overpass . Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
- ↑ a b 2008 State Budget . South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance. June 5, 2008. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
- ↑ Cabinet gives new tramline extension green light . Government of South Australia. November 27, 2008. Archived from the original on July 4, 2009. Retrieved on December 1, 2008.
- ^ Tram extension works start , The Advertiser / AdelaideNow. May 8, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
- ↑ (Rail Page Australia) ADELAIDE - New tramlines to Entertainment Center, West Lakes and Semaphore . Forum members. May 30, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ↑ Right turn movements . DTEI. October 2, 2009. Archived from the original on June 12, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ↑ Port Road Closure - 6 to 9 November 2009 . Forum members. November 1, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
- ↑ # U / C: Port Adelaide Tram Line . DTEI. May 30th, 2009. Archived from the original on October 17th, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 30, 2009.
- ^ Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure, Notice of major weekend works . DTEI. November 17, 2009. Archived from the original on October 17, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Matt Williams: On track for future extension , The Advertiser - News Corporation. February 16, 2008. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
- ^ Lauren Novak: Trams may be stretched to beat overcrowding , The Advertiser - News Corporation. January 9, 2008. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
- ↑ Authorities deny tram causing congestion . ABC News. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
- ↑ Double Derailment at Glengowrie . Sensational Adelaide. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
- ^ Tram commuters to Glenelg face derailment delays , The Advertise - News Corporation. November 1, 2007. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
- ↑ Michael Owen: TransAdelaide gutted as another tram breaks down , The Advertiser - News Corporation. November 12, 2007. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
- ↑ David Hoadley: Type H . January 18, 1996. Archived from the original on March 21, 2018. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 3, 2007.
- ↑ Renato Castello: European trams to bolster our city Glenelg fleet , The Advertiser - News Corporation. May 24, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2009.
- ↑ http://tdu.to/96313.msg
- ↑ http://tdu.to/109919.msg
- ↑ http://tdu.to/109920.msg
- ↑ http://tdu.to/110151.msg