Mount Barker train push to help deal with region’s growth

Constant congestion on the South Eastern Freeway and massive population growth in Mount Barker mean a passenger train to the region must be made a priority, local authorities say.

• Rail revival move for Limestone Coast in $90k investigation
• Push to reinstate train services for SA regions
• Regional leaders seek public transport overhaul, funding guarantee
• RAA calls for urgent Eyre Peninsula roads fix, amid rail closure

The State Government must prioritise a potential route for passenger trains between the city and Mount Barker, community leaders say, in a bid to deal with constant traffic congestion amid the region’s rapid growth.

Mount Barker Council staff will meet with the Transport Department to call for a study into a rail corridor, among other public transport upgrades.

The Government has announced it will open up emergency lanes on the South Eastern Freeway to help improve commute times.

But Mount Barker Council chief executive Andrew Stuart said while the measure would provide “some relief” it was just one part of the solution to “a big problem”.

“It’s not going to solve the bigger picture issues,” Mr Stuart said.

The State Government in 2010 made way for huge growth in the region, rezoning land to allow for thousands of new homes.

By 2040, Mount Barker is expected to grow to 40,000 people, making it the second biggest city in the state.

Mr Stuart said the “vast majority” of locals travelled to Adelaide each weekday.

“Our council has had to grapple with 1300ha of land being rezoned without much planning done by the State Government at the time,” Mr Stuart said.

“It’s about time that the State Government … stepped up with looking at a few of the issues that weren’t dealt with at the time. Transport is one and schooling is another.”

“In 10 years, the enjoyablity of Mount Barker has diminished. It wasn’t such a problem to commute to Adelaide as a worker but now people are saying it’s not that enjoyable to drive to work, and ‘I’m getting frazzled by how busy the Freeway is’.”

Mr Stuart said with upgrades, the existing freight line could be used for passenger trains and deliver people between Adelaide and Mount Barker within about 40 minutes. However, existing timetables show the passenger train takes a minimum of 37 minutes to get from Belair to Adelaide, and Mt Barker is about 30km further away.

A new fast rail line, proposed in 2018 by former senior Transport Department bureaucrat Luigi Rossi, could reach town in 22 minutes.

“In the long term, looking at rail as an alternative is sensible. It’s a 20-year project time frame but unless we start studying this now, it will probably never happen,” Mr Stuart said.

Mr Rossi, who now runs a consultancy firm specialising in major infrastructure projects, said the Government should invest in rail to deal with road congestion.

His proposal involves first building a 160km/h line to Mount Barker, and later, a service to Victor Harbor and Murray Bridge.

“We’ve become car-centric in Adelaide," Mr Rossi said. “Every person who moves to Mount Barker is going to put more and more pressure on the freeway. Adelaide is crying out for a rail renaissance.”

“We’d like to significantly improve the opportunity for a shift from car to public transport,” Mr Rossi said.

Mr Rossi estimated it would cost about $1 billion to build the line to Mount Barker.

Meantime, the State Government’s proposed GlobeLink freight plan could see freight trains rerouted out of suburbia and the Hills. A business case is being produced for the project. James Sexton, chair of Regional Development Australia (RDA)’s Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island organisation, said this could open up a route for passenger trains.

“Mount Barker is now a city. It just makes sense to have a high speed transport system, instead of dozens of buses running up and down the Freeway every day,” Mr Sexton said.

Paul Richards, of Littlehampton, said a train system would be a win for his family — particularly as his children grew older.

The real estate agent said a train service’s impact on the Adelaide Hills and Mount Barker housing markets would be huge.

“It would have a similar impact to the opening of the Freeway,” Mr Richards said.

“If areas become more accessible, history has shown they’ve generally increased in price.”

A State Government spokesman said there were no plans to extend the rail network to Mt Barker at this stage, but it was confident a new bus services contract would “provide better public transport services for the Adelaide Hills area.”