Rail transport in the Australian state of South Australia is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government-owned railway lines. The network consists of standard gauge links to other states, the broad gauge suburban railways in Adelaide, a freight-only branch from Dry Creek to Port Adelaide and Pelican Point, a narrow-gauge gypsum haulage line on the Eyre Peninsula, and both copper–gold concentrate and coal on the standard-gauge line in the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor north of Tarcoola.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), an agency of the federal government, owns standard gauge interstate lines and the freight-only branch from Dry Creek to Port Adelaide and Pelican Point. The ARTC lines bypass the city to the west and do not enter the CBD. The ARTC network extends from Adelaide towards Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Darwin and is used by substantial interstate freight traffic. Journey Beyond is a private company operating long-distance interstate passenger trains from the Adelaide Parklands Terminal, just west of the CBD, on the ARTC's standard gauge lines.

Unlike most other states, South Australia no longer runs regional freight and passenger services. The last broad-gauge freight service was the limestone train from Penrice, which operated from 1950 until it abruptly ceased in June 2014.Urban Exploration – The Penrice Soda Factory

History The first railway in colonial South Australia was the horse-drawn tramway from Goolwa to Port Elliot opened in 1854, providing a rail link from the port of Goolwa on the Murray River to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot. It was later extended to a safer harbour at Victor Harbor. This line was used to move freight between the shallow-draft vessels navigating the Murray, and coastal and ocean-going vessels, without either having to traverse the narrow and shallow mouth of the river with unpredictable currents.

The first of the railways in Adelaide was built in 1856 between the city and the port. The Adelaide railways were all built as broad gauge of . Gradually, a network of lines spread out from Adelaide. These were initially built to carry ore, particularly copper, then later freight from the River Murray, and grain from the broadacre lands. In the first half of the 20th century, most of these lines carried passengers as well as freight, sometimes in mixed trains.

The main line to Melbourne was opened after a bridge was built at Murray Bridge in 1886. It was the first railway line between colony capitals to not have a break-of-gauge. It was also the last of these to be converted to standard gauge in 1995.

The rail network reached a peak by the 1940s and 50s but steadily declined, as branch and cross country lines were closed until the 2010s.Interactive Maps of Railways and Colonisation in South Australia

Gauge

In January 1846, William Ewart Gladstone, the British Colonial Secretary, recommended to the Governor of New South Wales that railways in the Australian colonies be. constructed to the newly termed "standard gauge" (originally "Stephenson gauge") of . In 1847, the Parliament of South Australia passed an act confirming adoption of the standard gauge, being the first Australian colony to do so. In 1848, the Colonial Secretary, Earl Grey, recommended all the Australian colonies adopt that gauge. However, engineer of the company building the first railway in New South Wales decided to adopt the "Irish" broad gauge of . In February 1851, Earl Grey approved the change and Victoria and South Australia ordered locomotives and rolling stock to the wider gauge.

In the meantime, a new engineer of the Sydney Railway Co., James Wallace, persuaded the NSW governor to authorise building the railway in the standard gauge. By then, it was too late for Victoria and South Australia to change their orders for rolling stock. So began Australia's "mixed gauge muddle" which persists to this day.

The first main line railway in Adelaide was built in 1856 between the city and the port. The main line to Melbourne was opened after a bridge was built at Murray Bridge in 1886. It was the first railway line between Australian capital cities not to have a break-of-gauge – but it was to be 109 years before it was converted to standard gauge in 1995, the last inter-capital line to be converted.

Narrow gauge Influenced by Queensland Railways' successful adoption of the narrow gauge for cost reasons (opened 1865), and influenced by the advocacy of people such as Abraham Fitzgibbon, South Australia changed the gauge of the Port Wakefield line in the middle of construction. The Port Wakefield line, opened 1870, was originally horse drawn.

Because the narrow gauge lines of started out as isolated lines from independent ports at Port Wakefield, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Port Broughton, Beachport, Kingston SE and Wallaroo, and a private tramway from Whyalla, the problems of the nascent break of gauge was not immediately apparent. When the broad and narrow systems finally met at Hamley Bridge, Terowie, Wolseley and Mount Gambier endless complaints started. There may have been even more breaks of gauge, as the original bridge at Murray Bridge was designed for narrow gauge.

The horse-drawn narrow gauge Port Broughton railway line on the Yorke Peninsula was never connected to the main system.

The lines on the Eyre Peninsula Railway and throughout the mid-north were built to narrow gauge. Once the narrow gauge from Port Pirie to Broken Hill was converted to standard gauge, the narrow gauge from Terowie was converted to broad gauge to Peterborough. Peterborough became the change of gauge station for Broken Hill Adelaide express. The narrow gauge line was retained north from Peterborough to Quorn.

The main interstate links from Adelaide to Perth, Darwin, Melbourne, and Sydney are all of standard gauge.

Operators The country railways were initially owned by South Australian Railways. The narrow gauge lines north and west of Quorn were handed over to the Commonwealth Railways in 1926, though the Commonwealth had had financial responsibility for these lines since 1911. The Commonwealth Railways later merged with the SAR to become the Australian National Railways Commission in 1978.

The metropolitan railway lines are now owned and operated by Adelaide Metro, interstate passenger services operated by Journey Beyond, intrastate freight by Aurizon, and interstate freight by a number of companies including Bowmans Rail, Aurizon, Pacific National and SCT Logistics.

Passenger services

In the Adelaide Metro suburban network, there are 89 stations on seven lines. Vehicles are diesel-powered railcars and, following electrification of the Gawler, Seaford and Flinders lines, electric multiple-unit trains.

Country passenger services were discontinued in 1990; today the only services beyond suburban Adelaide are long-distance experiential tourism trains operated by Journey Beyond – The Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin, the Indian Pacific between Perth and Sydney, and the summer-months Great Southern between Adelaide and Brisbane via Adelaide The Overland between Adelaide and Melbourne.

Railway preservation Port Adelaide is home to the National Railway Museum, the largest undercover railway museum in Australia. The SteamRanger Heritage Railway in the Adelaide Hills has restored a number of steam and diesel locomotives for tourist services on the Victor Harbor railway line, operating between Mount Barker and Victor Harbor. The Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society based in Quorn operates on part of the former Central Australia Railway. The Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre is a static railway museum based in the former railway workshops in Peterborough.

Other former heritage operations have operated including the Lions Club of YP Rail (Wallaroo–Kadina), Limestone Coast Railway (on the Mount Gambier railway line from Mount Gambier railway station), Cobdogla Steam Friends, Steamtown Peterborough Railway Preservation Society (Peterborough–Eurelia) and the Australian Society of Section Car Operators (accreditation in SA surrendered in 2010).

Timeline

1854: Horsedrawn tram from Goolwa to Port Elliot 1856: First broad-gauge line, from Adelaide to Port Adelaide, opens 1857: Adelaide–Gawler opened 1860: Gawler line extended through Roseworthy to Kapunda 1862: Private broad gauge horse-drawn tramway between Wallaroo and Kadina 1864: Horsedrawn tram extended to Victor Harbor 1866: Wallaroo line extended to Moonta 1869: First narrow-gauge line opens from Port Wakefield through Balaklava to Hoyleton – isolated from broad gauge system. Originally horse-drawn railway 1870: Roseworthy junction created, with line through Hamley Bridge and Riverton to Burra, South Australia 1876: Narrow gauge line from Kingston SE to Naracoorte 1876: Port Broughton railway line between Port Broughton and Mundoora 1877: Wallaroo lines acquired by South Australian Railways 1878: Port Wakefield to Kadina narrow gauge opened and continued to Wallaroo adjacent to the broad gauge line. 1878: Narrow gauge branch from Balaklava to Hamley Bridge, creating the state's first break of gauge 1878: Kapunda line extended to the Murray River at Morgan 1878: Semaphore railway line opened 1879: Kadina junction to Snowtown opened 1879: Narrow gauge between Beachport, Millicent and Mount Gambier 1879: Narrow gauge line from Port Augusta reaches Quorn. 1880: Broad gauge lines reach Terowie and Gladstone 1881–1882: Narrow gauge built from Peterborough south to Terowie and north through Orroroo to Quorn 1883: South Line reaches Nairne through the Adelaide Hills 1883: Great Northern Line extended from Quorn to Hergott Springs (Marree) 1884: South Line reaches Murray Bridge 1884: Victor Harbor tramway strengthened to carry steam trains and extended to meet the South Line at Mount Barker Junction. A branch was also built from Sandergrove to Milang. 1886: Branch from Monarto on the South Line to Cambrai 1887: Railways of South Australia and Victoria meet at Serviceton 1887: Narrow gauge Mount Gambier to Naracoorte and Wolseley creating break-of-gauge junction at Wolseley on the Melbourne line 1888: Narrow gauge line built from Port Pirie to Broken Hill, New South Wales 1891: Great Northern Railway extended from Hergott Springs to Orroroo 1894: Snowtown branch extended to Brinkworth joining the Hamley Bridge-Gladstone railway line 1906: Pinnaroo railway line opened 1907: The first stage of Eyre Peninsula Railway opened from Port Lincoln to Cummins 1908: Port Adelaide line extended to Outer Harbor 1911: Gawler junction created, with Barossa line to Angaston 1913: Paringa railway line opened through Karoonda and Alawoona to the Brown's Well district near the state border, then extended north to Paringa by the end of the year 1914: Loxton railway line opened from Alawoona 1914: Waikerie railway line opened from Karoonda 1914: Peebinga railway line opened from Karoonda 1914: Robertstown railway line opened from Eudunda 1915: Willunga railway line completed 1917: First standard gauge line completed between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, requiring a break-of-gauge at Terowie, Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie to reach Perth 1917: broad gauge from Mount Gambier to Heywood near Portland in Victoria 1918: Branch from Balhannah on the Melbourne line to Mount Pleasant 1919: Railways of South Australia and New South Wales meet at Broken Hill railway station, with a break-of-gauge 1919: Branch from Riverton to Clare 1919: Sedan railway line opened from Monarto South 1922: Clare line extended to Spalding 1925: Line from Wanbi to Yinkanie ("Moorook railway line") opened 1925: Junction at Salisbury on the Gawler line to Redhill 1927: Yorke Peninsula lines converted from narrow to broad gauge to connect to the line from Salisbury, along with the Hamley Bridge-Gladstone line 1928: Paringa railway line extended over the Murray River to Renmark, Berri and Barmera