[Sept/Oct 2020] SA transport observations

[thedom]

(Formatting corrected - apologies-thanks for pointing it out)

[Lieselta]

Spotted SL202 440 heading north on Marion Road today, perhaps heading to a new home?

[Former driver37]

Morphettville probably starting to clear some busses as they need as much room as possible with Sealink coaches and additional buses moving in next weekend

[jibb]

I understood that Sealink Coaches were to be based at Mile End Depot.

[TT]

Maybe clearing the way at Morphettville for the AdMetro buses being transferred from Mile End, so that there’s room for the Sealink coaches going to Mile End?
Unless there’s been a change of plans.

[TA3001]

Morphettville has capacity for at least twice the number of buses currently stationed there. So it might just be a coincidence that they're freeing up space.

[Former driver37]

Having Sealink buses at Mile end would make perfect sense as the majority of there work is from the city ie Cape Jervois, and private charter

[jibb]

Morphettville has capacity for at least twice the number of buses currently stationed there. So it might just be a coincidence that they're freeing up space.

Morphettville Depot currently holds 177 buses in the yard.
It was built for a capacity of 250 buses.

[TA3001]

I thought I heard something in the 400 plus range, which is what triggered that comment.

[thedom]

How long are the busways loans for rail subs for?

There are now closures and subs everyday until October 2021 from the admet update:

https://adelaidemetro.com.au/Announceme ... res#Future

Temporary partial and full closures of the Gawler rail line are required between October 2020 and October 2021 to facilitate works for the project that cannot be safely undertaken with trains operating in the corridor.

Summary of future Gawler lone closures:

Monday 12 October 2020 to Christmas Day 25 December 2020, inclusive (approx 2.5 months)

Partial closure between Adelaide Railway Station and Salisbury InterchangeBoxing Day 26 December 2020 to Monday 25 January 2021, inclusive (approx 1 month)

Full line closure, closed Adelaide Railway Station to Gawler Central Railway StationAustralia Day 26 January 2021 to Friday 9 April 2021, inclusive (approx. 2.5 months)

Partial closure between Mawson Interchange and Gawler Central Station(April school holidays) From Saturday 10 April 2021 to Saturday 24 April 2021, inclusive (approx. 2 weeks)

Full line closure, closed Adelaide Railway Station to Gawler Central Railway StationSunday 25 April 2021 to Friday 2 July 2021, inclusive (approx. 2.5 months)

Partial closure between Mawson Interchange and Gawler Central Station(July school holidays) Saturday 3 July 2021 to Sunday 18 July 2021, inclusive (approx. 2 weeks)

Full line closure, closed Adelaide Railway Station to Gawler Central Railway StationMonday 19 July 2021 to Friday 24 September 2021, inclusive (approx. 2.5 months)

Partial closure between Salisbury Interchange and Gawler Central Station(September school holidays) Saturday 25 September 2021 to Sunday 10 October 2021, inclusive (approx. 2 weeks)
Full line closure, closed Adelaide Railway Station to Gawler Central Railway Station

I realise they have spare buses in school holidays, however school terms coming up will leave them tight on available numbers without coach top up?

The formatting of the list of closures seems to have gone awry.

The full line closures Adelaide - Gawler Central are during the school holidays (Sep/Oct 20, Jan, Apr, July, Sep/Oct 21). The partial closures are at other times and (I guess) will continue to be weekday late evenings and overnight as they have been up to now. So the greatest demand for rail sub buses will be in the school holidays.

The Adl to Salisbury closure is first to last service daily from 25th September through to 25th December 2020 -not just nights.

[PD2/20]

The formatting of the list of closures seems to have gone awry.

The full line closures Adelaide - Gawler Central are during the school holidays (Sep/Oct 20, Jan, Apr, July, Sep/Oct 21). The partial closures are at other times and (I guess) will continue to be weekday late evenings and overnight as they have been up to now. So the greatest demand for rail sub buses will be in the school holidays.

The Adl to Salisbury closure is first to last service daily from 25th September through to 25th December 2020 -not just nights.

A few days ago I saw at Kilburn and Dudley Park stations that the notices for the current two week closure had been modified by having stickers applied which changed the end date from Sunday 11th October to Friday 25th December. This includes the three different notices that appear: the weekday rail sub timetable, the weekend rail sub timetable and a notice stating buses replace trains. However at the present time there is no detailed information on the AdMet website to indicate what timetables will be operating from Monday 12th October. The AdMet document that you reproduced above contains:

Monday 12 October 2020 to Christmas Day 25 December 2020, inclusive (approx 2.5 months)
Partial closure between Adelaide Railway Station and Salisbury Interchange

In my previous post I noted that the full line closures are to be during the school holidays and that the partial closures at the other times. However if the rail subs are going to run right up to Christmas, this has not been well publicised on the website. It is unclear whether 'partial' refers to the geographical extent of the closure or to the daily duration of the closure. The latest GTFS timetable feed dated 1st October still shows a daytime rail service operating over the full line and rail subs south of Salisbury from mid evening. On Friday I emailed the DIT electrification project team seeking clarification of the timetable situation but as yet have not had a reply.

I assume from your post that you have heard through the bus operation side the extent of the rail subs.

It looks as if a last minute decision has been made to have a complete closure of Adelaide - Salisbury for the rest of the year. Servicing the Outer Harbor/Grange/Belair rolling stock will be interesting.

[jibb]

I doubt that Torrens Transit or Busways or Southlink have sufficent spare buses to enable a full shutdown of the Gawler Line.
With many buses out of service ,they barely have sufficent buses to cover am and pm peaks!

[TA3001]

Might make sense for them to bring back those ex Darwn NLs that were withdrawn about a year prematurely then.

1351 is the only one out of these that turns 25 soon.

[1whoknows]

Rather than use aging urban buses, why not use a mix of metro and modern school coaches from Link SA and others. As long as there is one or more low floors in each "train" of buses there are no DDA issues.

[TT]

When school goes back next Monday the LinkSA school coaches will be needed for school runs, so how are they going to be available for rail subs in peak? In the mornings school runs and regular peak coincide. In the afternoon school runs are slightly before regular peak but not by enough time to get them in from country routes, and most Torrens AdMetro artics used on school services would be available for regular peak work by then anyway.

[jibb]

Morphettville probably starting to clear some busses as they need as much room as possible with Sealink coaches and additional buses moving in next weekend

No movement as yet of withdrawn buses at Morphettville.
As the number now going there is only 9(more to other depots I believe) nothing is likely to change in the yard.

[1whoknows]

TT - as I understood it the full line closures, when more buses are required, are to be during the school holidays so Link SA buses would be available. If on school days then you still have a number of coaches available from the various Adelaide charter operators - i.e those not allocated to private school runs.

[PD2/20]

A notice https://adelaidemetro.com.au/Announceme ... #12October has now appeared on the AdMet website announcing the complete closure of Adelaide - Salisbury rail from Mon 12 Oct to Fri 25 Dec and provision of rail subs. Links to the revised timetables are included.

[PD2/20]

Another notice https://adelaidemetro.com.au/Announceme ... e-closures regarding rail subs on Outer Harbor and Grange lines has been posted. From Monday until mid December there will rail subs each night from 9pm and also a full closure over a weekend in late November.

[jibb]

Due to a shortage of buses and drivers a number of coach companies are being used to provide GA1-2-3 services from today.
Kanga Coaches has quite a few buses out including off-peak runs.
Sealink and Adelaide Coaches are also involved as well as some smaller companies. In addition to number of trips shown on the Adelaide Metro website,there are a few double and triple division runs(not shown).

[TA3001]

1041 seems to be at Morphettville at the moment.

[jibb]

1041 seems to be at Morphettville at the moment.

As part of movement of buses at the weekend Mile End Scania Bustechs 1036-1044 were transferred to Morphettville Depot.
Newton lost 4 of its NL232's(1784-1787) to Mile End in exchange for 4 of their Scania L94UB's.
Another 13 were transferred to Edinburgh North.

[TT]

With school going back and GA train subs still happening there have been many buses shifted between depots over the weekend. I understand several BusTechs have been transferred from ME to MV.

And channel 7 news just showed 1338 rear ended into the back of a RAV4 on Payneham Rd this morning. The car had hit a kangaroo on Payneham Rd.

[jibb]

MAN NL 202 buses 1331-1332-1334 based at Morphettville have now had the prefix "R" placed in front of the fleet numbers.

[TA3001]

There are no signs of any 1000s or 1900s being relocated to Edinburgh North at the moment according to the Anytrip app. All look to be doing runs in the previous TT/'LCB' contract areas.