Adelaide Parklands Terminal

This article is about the interstate railway station in Adelaide, Australia. For the suburban railway station in Adelaide, see Adelaide railway station.

Adelaide Parklands Terminal, formerly known as Keswick Terminal, is the interstate passenger railway station in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the only station in the world where passengers can board trains on both north–south and east–west transcontinental routes.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Adelaide Parklands Terminal
General information
Location	Richmond Road, Keswick Terminal
Coordinates	34°56′17″S 138°34′52″E
Owned by	Journey Beyond
Operated by	Journey Beyond
Line(s)	The Overland The Ghan Indian Pacific Great Southern
Platforms	3 (1 side, 1 island)
Tracks	3
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Parking	Yes
History
Opened	18 May 1984
Services
Preceding station Journey Beyond Following station Cook One-way operation Indian Pacific Mount Victoria towards Sydney Cook towards Perth Broken Hill One-way operation Coober Pedy One-way operation The Ghan Terminus Marla towards Darwin Terminus The Overland Murray Bridge towards Melbourne Great Southern Inverleigh One-way operation Stawell towards Brisbane

The terminal is north of the suburb of Keswick, 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) by road south-west of the city centre, and adjoins the south-western sector of the West Parklands. It was within the boundary of Keswick until 1987 when, inclusive of adjacent business sites and covering a total area of 56.6 hectares (140 acres), Keswick Terminal was declared a suburb in its own right.^[6]

History

The terminal opened on 18 May 1984 as Keswick Terminal (and located near, but not connected to, the now demolished Keswick station). It was developed by Australian National (AN) as a dedicated long-haul passenger rail station, allowing AN to vacate the then State Transport Authority's Adelaide railway station. It was included in the sale of Australian National's passenger operations to Great Southern Rail in 1997.^[7]

In June 2008, the station was renamed Adelaide Parklands Terminal^[8] following Stage One of a plan to "improve guest comfort and amenity, traffic and passenger movement, food and retail facilities, image, identity, presentation and sustainability".^[9]

Services

The terminal was built by Australian National as a dual gauge station for The Ghan, Indian Pacific and Trans-Australian to the north and The Overland to the south-east – the latter train being on 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad-gauge tracks at the time, before conversion to 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) in 1995.^[10] It was also served by regional South Australian trains – also operated by Australian National – until all passenger trains outside of Greater Adelaide had ceased operation by 1990.

Since 1991, the only trains regularly operating out of the terminal have been The Ghan, Indian Pacific and The Overland; The Southern Spirit ran seasonally between 2010 and 2012, and the Great Southern commenced seasonal services in 2020. Today, these trains are operated by Journey Beyond.

Visiting passenger trains from interstate also visit the terminal, albeit rarely.

Local transport

Although three suburban rail lines run parallel to the terminal, the nearest suburban railway station is 700 metres (770 yards) to the south. The nearest bus stop is 450 metres (490 yards) away, also to the south.

Gallery

• 
  The Indian Pacific at the terminal
• 
  Main platform with carriages from The Ghan
• 
  Terminal entrance (2014)
• 
  Choo Choos Cafe (2011)
• 
  GM22 at the head of the Trans Australian in 1986. (Note dual gauge tracks)

References

1. Ghan Timetable April to December 2021 Archived 26 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine Journey Beyond
2. "Indian Pacific timetable". Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions. 1 April 2021.
3. The Overland Timetable 3 January 2021 Archived 15 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine Journey Beyond
4. "Great Southern 2022 Fares & Timetables". Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
5. Dennis, Anthony (10 February 2020). "The new Great Southern train service links Adelaide and Brisbane". Traveller. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
6. "Keswick Terminal, 5035". Plan SA. Attorney-General's Department, Government of South Australia. 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
7. "Goodbye AN Passenger, Hello Great Southern Railway" Railway Digest December 1997 page 7
8. New name for interstate rail terminal ABC News 5 August 2008
9. ATOMIQ Design Group Archived 14 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Architects of the Adelaide Parklands Interstate Rail Terminal
10. "ARHS Railway Museum: History 1950 – now". railwaymuseum.org.au. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2008.

External links

• Media related to Adelaide Parklands Terminal at Wikimedia Commons
• Flick gallery