Railways in Adelaide

Railways in Adelaide
Adelaide railway station, October 2010
Overview
Owner	South Australian Railways (1854–1975) State Transport Authority (1975–1994) TransAdelaide (1994–2010) Office of the Rail Commissioner (since 2010)
Locale	Adelaide, South Australia
Transit type	Commuter rail
Number of lines	7
Number of stations	89
Operation
Began operation	1856
Operator(s)	Keolis Downer
Character	At-grade with elevated and underground sections
Rolling stock	3000 class 4000 class
Train length	2 (3000/3100) 3 (4000)
Technical
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead (Seaford/Flinders & Gawler only)[1]

The Adelaide rail network is a metropolitan suburban rail system serving the city of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. It consists of 89 railway stations across 7 lines, which served a patronage of 15.6 million people over the year 2018-19.^[2] Keolis Downer under contract from the Government of South Australia operates the Adelaide suburban rail system. The operations are set to be handed back to the hands of the public by January 2025.^[3]

The metropolitan network is a suburban rail system designed to transport passengers from Adelaide's suburbs into the Adelaide central business district (CBD) and associated with the main hub at Adelaide station. The Adelaide Parklands Terminal is the main hub for interstate trains services heading north–south and east–west. The first steam train in Adelaide commenced in 1856 between the city and Port Adelaide. Gradually, a network of lines spread out from Adelaide. These were initially built to carry ore, particularly copper, then later freight from the Murray River, and grain from the broadacre lands. In the first half of the 20th century, most of these lines carried passengers as well as freight. By the later half of the 20th century, many of these lines and branches were closed effectively shrinking Adelaide's rail system into a sparse size.

The railway network is primarily at ground level, with some underground and elevated sections. There are 126 at-grade level crossings of the road and rail network in Adelaide.^[4] There are no heritage railways that are located in the city of Adelaide area. In addition to the primary commuter network, Adelaide also has a small suburban tram network.^[5]