RailSA

TRANSPORT Minister Patrick Conlon quashed rumours his department is planning to scrap the Outer Harbor train in favour of a dedicated tramline.

Three separate sources have told the Sunday Mail the Government is considering converting the Outer Harbor line into a tram-only service instead of running both trams and trains down the line as was promised in the 2008 Budget.

The plan would be consistent with calls by the Port Adelaide Enfield Council which has been agitating since 2006 for a dedicated tramline along the Outer Habor line into the heart of Port Adelaide and servicing Semaphore and Outer Harbor.

The paper also has been told the State Government has cancelled the purchase of hybrid train-trams which would have been able to travel on both the train and tram tracks because of cost pressures and because the technology was relatively untested.

A new tram maintenance depot would be built at Le Fevre Peninsula with the existing Glengowrie depot to act as a stabling yard.

But Mr Conlon told the Sunday Mail on Friday that South Australia’s planned $2 billion transport “revolution” plan, including an electrified tram/rail system to Port Adelaide, had not changed.

“Design and planning for the Government’s unprecedented public transport revitalisation continues,” he said. “We’ll be looking at all different types of rolling stock for the next few years and we don’t have any firm commitments for rolling stock now.”

Port Adelaide Enfield Council revealed a $247 million proposal last month for a tram service into Port Adelaide in a bid to revitalise the heart of the district.

“We’re desperate to get the Port happening again and the only way we’re going to get it happening is to do something like that down Commercial Road,” Port Adelaide Enfield Mayor Gary Johanson said.

The Government is spending $100m on extending the tramline from the city’s West End to the Entertainment Centre with work slated to finish by next April.