A PUBLIC rail service from Adelaide to Two Wells is a “necessity”, according to one passionate local resident.
Train enthusiast Christopher Ratcliff spoke at Adelaide Plains Council’s May meeting a fortnight ago, calling for the existing Adelaide to Port Augusta train line, which runs through the town, to be converted and used for passenger services to and from the city.
Mr Ratcliff has proposed using the concrete ‘dual gauge’ sleepers found in the existing rail line to allow for ‘standard gauge’ compatible trains to use it.
This conversion would allow passenger trains to travel from Salisbury, through Virginia and to Two Wells, he said.
Currently, the rail line is only configured for ‘broad gauge’ compatible trains, such as the freight trains that currently use it.
Mr Ratcliff said the infrastructure needed for a rail service was already built, and a public rail service would not be expensive to get off the ground.
“Some years ago, wooden railway sleepers were removed and
replaced with concrete dual-gauge sleepers,” he said.
“They were designed to convert out five-foot-three broad gauge sleepers to the standard four-foot-eight gauge sleepers used throughout the world.
“But, it was never done.
“They would have cost a bomb to make and it would have cost a bomb to install them, so it’s a shame not to use them for what they were intended for.”
Mr Ratcliff’s plan relies on the new passenger trains to be used on the soon-to-be electrified Gawler rail line being ‘standard gauge’ compatible.
The Adelaide to Port Augusta line originates in Adelaide and follows the Gawler rail line to the Salisbury railway station, where it heads north-west towards Virginia and Two Wells.
Passenger trains have not travelled along the Two Wells rail line since the “Flying Scotsman”, which had been brought to Australia from the United Kingdom, in 1970.
Council passed a motion at the same meeting as Mr Ratcliff’s deputation that will see chief executive James Miller write to transport and infrastructure minister Stephan Knoll, Playford Council and other private parties, urging them to support
the implementation of a passenger rail service.
Mr Ratcliff said it was vital the council and private industry got behind the idea to ensure the expected population boom in Two Wells and Virginia is well serviced.
“They’re talking about getting 40,000 people out here…there’s not even so much as a bus out here,” he said.
“The Northern Expressway will be fine, but look at the Heysen Tunnels in the Adelaide Hills, they’re getting quite busy.
“When they were designed, there wasn’t today’s traffic problem – in another 20 years the Northern Expressway
may be too busy.
“But, putting a rail line in takes the problem away.”
Mr Ratcliff estimated an Adelaide to Two Wells train trip would take around one hour.