Adelaide Parklands Terminal

Adelaide Parklands Terminal
General information
LocationRichmond Road, Keswick Terminal
Coordinates34°56′17″S 138°34′52″E / 34.93806°S 138.58111°E / -34.93806; 138.58111
Owned byJourney Beyond
Operated byJourney Beyond
Line(s)
Platforms3 (1 side, 1 island)
Tracks3
Construction
Structure typeGround
ParkingYes
History
Opened18 May 1984
Services
Preceding station Journey Beyond Following station
Cook
One-way operation
Indian Pacific Mount Victoria
towards Sydney
Cook
towards Perth
Broken Hill
One-way operation
Coober Pedy
One-way operation
The Ghan Terminus
Marla
towards Darwin
Terminus The Overland Murray Bridge
towards Melbourne
Great Southern Inverleigh
One-way operation
Stawell
towards Brisbane

Adelaide Parklands Terminal, formerly known as Keswick Terminal, is the interstate passenger railway station in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the only station in the world where passengers can board trains on both north–south and east–west transcontinental routes.[1][2][3][4][5]

The terminal is north of the suburb of Keswick, 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) by road south-west of the city centre, and adjoins the south-western sector of the West Parklands. It was within the boundary of Keswick until 1987 when, inclusive of adjacent business sites and covering a total area of 56.6 hectares (140 acres), Keswick Terminal was declared a suburb in its own right.[6]

History

The terminal opened on 18 May 1984 as Keswick Terminal (and located near, but not connected to, the now demolished Keswick station). It was developed by Australian National (AN) as a dedicated long-haul passenger rail station, allowing AN to vacate the then State Transport Authority's Adelaide railway station. It was included in the sale of Australian National's passenger operations to Great Southern Rail in 1997.[7]

In June 2008, the station was renamed Adelaide Parklands Terminal[8] following Stage One of a plan to "improve guest comfort and amenity, traffic and passenger movement, food and retail facilities, image, identity, presentation and sustainability".[9]

Services

The terminal was built by Australian National as a dual gauge station for The Ghan, Indian Pacific and Trans-Australian to the north and The Overland to the south-east – the latter train being on 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad-gauge tracks at the time, before conversion to 1435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) in 1995.[10] It was also served by regional South Australian trains – also operated by Australian National – until all passenger trains outside of Greater Adelaide had ceased operation by 1990.

Since 1991, the only trains regularly operating out of the terminal have been The Ghan, Indian Pacific and The Overland; The Southern Spirit ran seasonally between 2010 and 2012, and the Great Southern commenced seasonal services in 2020. Today, these trains are operated by Journey Beyond.

Visiting passenger trains from interstate also visit the terminal, albeit rarely.

Local transport

Although three suburban rail lines run parallel to the terminal, the nearest suburban railway station is 700 metres (770 yards) to the south. The nearest bus stop is 450 metres (490 yards) away, also to the south.

References

  1. ^ Ghan Timetable April to December 2021 Archived 26 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine Journey Beyond
  2. ^ "Indian Pacific timetable". Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions. 1 April 2021.
  3. ^ The Overland Timetable 3 January 2021 Archived 15 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine Journey Beyond
  4. ^ "Great Southern 2022 Fares & Timetables". Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  5. ^ Dennis, Anthony (10 February 2020). "The new Great Southern train service links Adelaide and Brisbane". Traveller. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Keswick Terminal, 5035". Plan SA. Attorney-General's Department, Government of South Australia. 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Goodbye AN Passenger, Hello Great Southern Railway" Railway Digest December 1997 page 7
  8. ^ New name for interstate rail terminal ABC News 5 August 2008
  9. ^ ATOMIQ Design Group Archived 14 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Architects of the Adelaide Parklands Interstate Rail Terminal
  10. ^ "ARHS Railway Museum: History 1950 – now". railwaymuseum.org.au. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2008.