Gawler line upgrade delays explained … 14 years later

Fourteen years is a long time to be waiting for a train but now the government’s transport boss has detailed why the Gawler line still isn’t electrified. See what he had to say.

Why, oh why, has it taken so long?

That’s the question the people of the northern suburbs want answered as the electrification of the railway line to Gawler continues to be plagued by delay after delay.

It’s a question Transport Department boss Tony Braxton-Smith spent hours addressing when he fronted parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee this week.

Only hours after the state government told commuters the electrified service would not start until April, Mr Braxton-Smith revealed full services might not resume until May because of delays in securing qualified drivers.

But he also provided his assessment on just why the now $842m project, first announced by the Labor government in 2008, has taken so long to get off the ground.

As far back as 2013 another announcement, this time by Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis, predicted the line would be ready by the end of 2015. But by the time of the 2018 state election it hadn’t happened and Labor rushed to announce it finally would if it won.

Here is what Mr Braxton-Smith told the committee:

Easter Road Safety

2017, 2018

“Firstly, to recap briefly, the previous government entered into a design and construct

contract for the project to Salisbury in early 2018, just prior to entering caretaker mode. The contract that was executed included incomplete schedules for scope and standards that had not been agreed with the contractor.

“It had been tendered in around mid-2017 with only a high-level concept design several years old rather than a fully developed reference design and a detailed specification to a standard customarily used for a design and construct contract. This subsequently gave rise to delays in finalising an agreed specification and scope and approved design for construction and delivery program.”

2019

“It also gave rise to dispute notices and an initial claim for over $100 million of additional costs in late 2019, with a prospect of further claims of even greater magnitude to come.”

2020, 2021

“As presented in previous evidence to the committee, this was resolved by converting the contract into an alliance and a program reset with a target for transition into service at the end of 2021. The project budget at the time was also reset in late 2020 to $715 million, with an increase of $100 million in total which includes $175 million for 12 new electric trains that were ordered in June 2019.”

November 2020

“Following that program reset approximately 14 months ago, work has progressed at pace on the upgrade of the line.”

February 2021

“However, further challenges arose during the course of 2021. In addition to adverse weather and latent ground conditions, most significantly there was the liquidation of a major component supplier, SA Structural steel, and the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and the management response to it across the state and in other states.

“The project is particularly impacted by the Covid outbreak because there are a range of highly specialised competencies needed to perform signalling work and electrical infrastructure work. These are major elements of the project. Workers with these skills are not all available in South Australia, and indeed there is no single jurisdiction in the state, no single state in the country, that all of the specialist resources are residing in it from which we could draw. Consequently, border closures and travel restrictions put in place in response to the COVID-19 outbreak resulted in significant program impacts.

December 2021

“While the outbreak impacted the program over the course of 2021, substantial progress has been made with over two million labour hours worked. Along the 42km alignment and in the Adelaide yard, all of the 1,990 new masts and steel work structures have now been installed and all 396km of new overhead wiring have now been strung. All 53km of the common service trenches that are required have now been excavated and now house the 460km of signal cabling that connects 142 signal units, 422 axle counters, 152 transponders which collectively are the key on-network devices for a completely new signal along the line.

Artist impression of Gawler Station with electrified train on line.

January/February 2022

“All of these physical works are at, or practically at, completion. The current major step in what we are doing now and where we are going to next is in the testing and commissioning of the signalling system and the electrical system, particularly first the signalling system with a significant upgrade of the existing system to occur over the period 18 to 21 February.

“This commissioning event will require the closure of the entire rail network, which will be cleared shortly and will involve work of approximately 50 to 60 signalling specialists from around Australia through January and February as part of a team of almost 300 people who today are still working on the project.

“Subject to a successful commissioning event and all the sign-offs needed for safety purposes, diesel trains will then be deployed on the Gawler line from around the end of February.

These will progressively test and validate first the level crossing systems, then the automatic train protection system and then the overall signalling system, which includes a new train control software release, Westrol, for the system that manages the entire rail network.

Former Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis. Picture: Mark Brake

“Initially the test trains will be diesel units, as further work on the electrical systems

needs to be performed for five weeks following the signalling commissioning.

“The integrity of the electrical system that manages trains on the network will then be tested and validated and then tested to complete and validate that the whole of the system is performing safely and working together with no public safety issues and no risk to the freight network operations in the shared corridor.

“This stage also requires a range of different specialist resources, again with approximately 50 other people from across Australia with different skill sets being brought to Adelaide to complete the works. It should be noted that this includes the entire Adelaide Railway Station and yard, which has now been configured to enable electric or diesel trains to operate on any platform.

“It also includes an upgrade to the electrical control system, for the entire 25-kilovolt network and the electrical supply feeds from both Lonsdale and Kilburn.

An electric train on the Seaford/Tonsley rail line at Millswood. Picture: Eugene Boisvert

March/April 2022

“When this work is complete, we will then operate electric trains for validation and testing of the new electrical system across the entire network.

“If all progresses to the schedule above, the first testing on the Gawler line with electric trains will commence in very late March 2022, following which the transition to operations can commence in late April 2022.

“As part of this, 170 train drivers need to be trained and recertified as competent to

operate on the electrified line to Gawler.

“While some of this activity can be performed in parallel with the final commissioning, there will be a period from handover to operations commencement of first revenue service, while sufficient drivers are trained to operate a regular timetable while at the same time maintaining normal services.”

May 2022

“So in the event that we have full driver availability between now and April, and in the event that the program meets its forward target dates, then we have good prospects of opening in the final week of April with a normal service.

“We are not in a position to provide advice to government or a commitment to government at this date.”