Belair line

The Adelaide-Wolseley line from Adelaide to Belair and Bridgewater opened in 1883. In 1919, a new alignment was built around Sleeps Hill as part of the duplication of the line. This involved a new double track tunnel being built to replace two tunnels and two viaducts.[1] The new alignment was also 400 metres (1,300 ft) shorter. On 18 June 1928, the line was duplicated from Eden Hills to Blackwood and on to Belair on 24 June 1928.[2]

Passenger services stopped beyond Belair on 23 September 1987.[2] In 1995, the track used by Adelaide bound services was converted to standard gauge as part of the Adelaide to Melbourne standardisation project. The broad gauge passenger services south of Goodwood were thus restricted to one track with crossing loops located at Mitcham, Sleeps Hill, Eden Hills and Blackwood. At the same time, the stations at Millswood, Hawthorn and Clapham were closed to speed up services. Millswood was later reopened on 12 October 2014.[3]

All services are operated by Adelaide Metro's 3000 class railcars. Until June 2007, some services on weekends were operated by a 2000 class railcar modified to incorporate increased bike capacity. In 2005, trains ran the route every 30 minutes on weekdays (hourly after 7pm) and every 60 minutes on weekends and public holidays. From 2006, because of the single line, this was downgraded to every 36/24 minutes on weekdays. In 2018 trains depart at least twice every hour on weekdays, with as little as 10 minutes waiting time during rush hour.[9]

The standard gauge track is owned by the Australian Rail Track Corporation and continues beyond Belair as the Adelaide-Wolseley railway line. The track is used by freight trains operated by One Rail Australia, Pacific National and SCT Logistics, and by the twice-weekly Overland service to Melbourne operated by Journey Beyond.

Line guide

Belair Line
Name	Distance from Adelaide	Year opened	Serving suburbs	Connections
Adelaide	0.0 km	1856	Adelaide	Flinders Gawler Grange Outer Harbor Seaford Bus Tram
Mile End	2.0 km	1898	Mile End
Adelaide Showground	4.0 km	2014	Keswick, Wayville
Goodwood	5.0 km	1883	Forestville, Goodwood	Flinders Seaford
Millswood	5.9 km	1910s	Millswood
Unley Park	7.0 km	1910s	Hawthorn, Unley Park, Westborne Park	Bus
Mitcham	8.5 km	1883	Lower Mitcham	Bus
Torrens Park	9.3 km	1914	Lower Mitcham, Torrens Park	Bus
Lynton	10.7 km	1946	Clapham, Lynton
Eden Hills	14.2 km	1912	Eden Hills
Coromandel	17.2 km	1883	Blackwood
Blackwood	18.1 km	1883	Blackwood	Bus
Glenalta	19.3 km	1921	Blackwood, Glenalta
Pinera	20.2 km	1920s	Belair	Bus
Belair	21.5 km	1883	Belair	Bus

• 
  Mitcham station
• 
  Two Redhen railcars working a Belair to Adelaide local train during the late 1980s approaching Lynton
• 
  Eden Hills station
• 
  Blackwood station in 2007; bus Interchange can be seen on the left
• 
  Belair station, services to Bridgewater once departed from these platforms. (Now the Australian Rail Track Corporation's Melbourne line tracks)
• 
  Pacific National freight train passing through Belair

• Belair to City – Adelaide Metro website