The rebuilding of the Interstate Rail Freight Network is continuing with the 2012–13 Budget committing $232.1 million in new funding to upgrade the section through the heart of Adelaide.
This project will ‘speed up the movement of freight trains through the City, improve the reliability of its passenger services, ease traffic congestion around the CBD, and boost national productivity’.
Recommended by Infrastructure Australia, the Torrens and Goodwood Junctions Upgrade will separate freight from passenger services by diverting the line used by one beneath that used by the other, eliminating the need for trains on either track to stop while those on the other pass through.
Construction of these underpasses will also allow bigger trains to operate along the line between Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth—1,800 metres in length instead of the current 1,500 metres—as well as shave 30 minutes off their journey times.
Already 4,000 freight trains a year pass through Adelaide, a figure that’s set to grow.