Port Adelaide railway station

Port Adelaide
Eastbound view from Platform 1, December 2018
General information
Location	Baynes Place, Port Adelaide
Coordinates	34°50′57″S 138°30′27″E / 34.849206°S 138.507587°E / -34.849206; 138.507587
Owned by	Department for Infrastructure & Transport
Operated by	Adelaide Metro
Line(s)	Outer Harbor
Distance	11.7 km from Adelaide
Platforms	2
Tracks	2
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Overpass Side platforms
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	No
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	18465 (To Outer Harbor) 16578 (To City)
Website	Adelaide Metro
History
Opened	1916
Rebuilt	1971 & 2010
Services
Preceding station Adelaide Metro Following station Alberton towards Adelaide Outer Harbor line Ethelton towards Outer Harbor

Port Adelaide railway station is a commuter railway station located on the Outer Harbor line. It serves the port-side region of Port Adelaide. It originally opened as Commercial Road, the current name of Port Adelaide was given in 1981. ^[1] Situated in the north-western Adelaide suburb of Alberton, it is 11.7 kilometres from Adelaide station.

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The line from Adelaide to Port Adelaide was the second railway in South Australia (after the Goolwa-Port Elliot railway began in 1854) and opened in 1856.^[2] The original line from Adelaide ran directly to Port Dock station, the site now occupied by the National Railway Museum. Various lines then continued through the Port Adelaide's streets to the wharves and, from 1878, along St Vincent Street to the seaside town of Semaphore.

Congestion at Port Dock railway station and the delays involved in operating trains along busy streets in the centre of the Port resulted in construction of a viaduct and a new bridge across the Port River in 1916. This diverted through trains to Semaphore and Outer Harbor via a new station named Commercial Road, the current station. Port Adelaide Commercial Road was quite a substantial building, with long platforms, an overall roof and a signal cabin. This quickly took over from Port Dock as the town's principal railway station.

As rail traffic decreased through the 1960s and 70s, facilities at Commercial Road station were gradually reduced. In the early 1970s the roof was removed, platforms shortened and the street level station buildings reconstructed. The ticket office closed in January 1979 and the station has been unstaffed since then. With the closure of Port Dock station in 1981, Commercial Road station was subsequently renamed Port Adelaide. In November 2009, the station and viaduct closed for refurbishment, reopening on 9 May 2010.^[3] Currently, Port Adelaide station's two elevated platforms are on a viaduct that carries the railway across Commercial Road. The station is unstaffed and has no buildings or other facilities except basic passenger shelters on each platform.

The tracks through Port Adelaide station were dual gauge from 1982, both 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge and 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge. This allowed freight traffic from Dry Creek via the Rosewater loop to access industrial facilities on the Lefevre Peninsula and the container terminal at Pelican Point. In August 2008, freight traffic was diverted to operate via the Mary MacKillop Bridge downstream of the Port Adelaide harbour.^[4] The disused standard gauge rails have been removed, however the dual gauge sleepers remain in place to allow for the entire Outer Harbor line to be gauge converted in the future.^{[citation needed]}

• Rails Through Swamp and Sand – A History of the Port Adelaide Railway. M. Thompson pub. Port Dock Station Railway Museum (1988) ISBN 0-9595073-6-1

• Media related to Port Adelaide railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• Track map SA Signal & Track
• Flickr gallery