Electrification of Gawler train line at bottom of infrastructure priority list

THE on-again, off-again Gawler train line electrification is languishing toward the bottom of the country’s infrastructure priority list because the State Government has failed to finalise the business case.

• Labor pledges $76 million towards Gawler line electrification
• Feds pull plug on Gawler line electrification

THE on-again, off-again Gawler train line electrification is languishing toward the bottom of the country’s infrastructure priority list because the State Government has failed to finalise the business case.

Infrastructure Australia has released its updated priority list that identifies the nation’s 100 most important projects but South Australia failed to have a project rated as “high priority”.

Coalition policy requires all federal infrastructure projects of more than $100 million must be subject to analysis by Infrastructure Australia to test cost-effectiveness and financial viability.

The Gawler line upgrade has been labelled a “high-priority proposed initiative”, which Infrastructure Australia project advisory director Jeremy Parkinson explained means it was a “potential good idea”.

The project, which was announced at the 2008 State Budget before being axed and reannounced several times, was undergoing “business case development” according to IA.

An artist’s impression of Gawler Station with an electrified train.

“(There are) ‘full projects’ which have business cases and there are ‘initiatives’ which are potentially good ideas to address nationally significant problems but for which we don’t yet have a business case,” Mr Parkinson told a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

State Opposition infrastructure spokesman David Pisoni said the State Government was “asleep at the wheel”.

“I note the electrification of the Gawler line has been included in the lower order proposed initiatives categories,” he said.

“After years of delays and wasted investment it beggars belief that the Government is still failing to make this a priority project.”

But State Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan insisted the project was “shovel-ready”.

He said the State Government would shortly be issuing a tender for the electrification of the line from Adelaide to Salisbury and construction would start in the second half of this year.

But electrification of the Salisbury to Gawler section remains unfunded.

“Submissions supporting the Gawler electrification have been provided to Prime Ministers, Federal Infrastructure Ministers, Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development and Infrastructure Australia since 2007 with the last submission made in September 2015,” he said.

“There has been ample information provided to the Commonwealth that would allow the Coalition Government to reinstate the funding that was cut in 2013.”

In 2013, the Coalition wrote to the State Government advising it would withdraw the expected $76.2 million for the line just a day after the project was reannounced.

During the last year’s Federal Election campaign, Labor announced it would reverse the $76 million cut to the project but the Coalition did not.

Mr Mullighan said the list identified a number of key SA projects which would provide immense benefits to the state such as the upgrading of the Strzelecki Track and the AdeLINK tram network — but these were all considered “initiatives”.

“Projects like Darlington and the Northern Connector, while not identified as high priority projects, were funded because of the State Government’s persistence and the significant benefits they will deliver,” Mr Mullighan said.