- by HF
- The Guardian
- Issue #2189
3100 class railcar at Largs North station in Adelaide. Photo: Tomoyn – wikimedia.org (CC BY 4.0)
Adelaide has a significant rail history going back to the 1850s, but over the decades the system has become increasingly outdated to the point where only 10% of trips in Adelaide are taken by public transport, and only a fraction of those are by train. One of the many reasons for this is that the fact that Adelaide is the only Australian capital city to still use diesel on the suburban network.
The network itself has 7 lines, but only the Gawler, Seaford, and Flinders lines are electrified, with the remainder on diesel. There are good reasons for switching from diesel to electric:
- Electric trains can draw their energy from the South Australian power grid which is almost 75% renewable energy, significantly reducing emissions.
- The ongoing war in Iran is shocking the global oil market. Electric trains don’t rely on a constant inflow of cheap oil.
- Diesel trains need to refuel, when electric trains can simply take electricity from the overhead wiring without refuelling.
- Diesel trains are loud and vibrate constantly, whereas the electric trains can operate at a deafening silence, leading to a much more pleasant passenger experience.
- Adelaide’s 3-car electric trains simply have more capacity than the 2-car diesel trains, allowing more people at once to use public transport.
- The 3000-Class diesel trains are approaching 40 years in age. The first 4000-Class electric trains began service in 2014. If more lines were electrified, new rolling stock would be manufactured in Dandenong, Melbourne.
Adelaide is renowned for its smartly designed city centre, but since the advent of cars it has succumbed to car-centric urban sprawl. This is designed so that people live in expensive but cheaply constructed houses and drive to their work and supermarkets. Every movement was engineered by capital first, with human needs as an afterthought.
These new urban developments then have meagre bus lines to the city slapped on them, whilst still being car-centric. As a general principle of urban planning, people will always take the path of least resistance, and if that path is one where they have to use an expensive and polluting car to get where they need to go, so be it.
Adelaide lags behind other Australian capital cities in terms of public transport.
Disability access is appalling. The system is slow, with single track operation on some train lines. The poor interstate railway options, infrequent buses, centralisation in the city centre, railway line shortenings. There’s no train line to Adelaide Airport. There is a desperate need for regional public transit, especially to Mt Barker.
If the state government can invest $15 billion in an underground freeway on South Road, it can invest in better public transport. Currently, the public transport network is only being maintained at its current operation. Any upgrades primarily benefit cars such as level crossing removals.
The CPA supports a well-planned, publicly owned transport network, designed with people in mind, and with energy efficiency a major goal.
