Tarcoola railway station is a railway station in the Australian state of South Australia located on the Trans-Australian Railway in the state's west.[1] It serves the town of Tarcoola and is the northern junction of the Sydney-Perth and Adelaide-Darwin railways, which share approximately 530 kilometres (329 mi) of track between Tarcoola and Crystal Brook.[citation needed]
Tarcoola | |
|---|---|
 Station in the 1920s | |
| General information | |
| Location | Railway Terrace, Tarcoola Australia |
| Coordinates | 30°42′50″S 134°34′01″E / 30.713771°S 134.566869°E[1] |
| Line(s) | Trans-Australian Railway |
| Platforms | 1 |
| Construction | |
| Structure type | Ground |
| Other information | |
| Status | Permanently Closed |
History
editThe Trans-Australian Railway was built through Tarcoola in 1915, and in 1980 it became a junction station when the Adelaide–Darwin railway diverged from Tarcoola to Alice Springs. This was extended to Darwin in 2004. It was initially built as a standard gauge replacement for the Central Australia Railway.[citation needed]
There is a triangular junction at Tarcoola which joins Crystal Brook, Darwin and Perth. Another triangular junction at Crystal Brook joins Tarcoola, Adelaide and Sydney.[citation needed]
The station has two triangles, a smaller one for turning locomotives, and the larger one to the west of the town gives direct access from the Darwin line to the Trans-Australian Railway to Kalgoorlie.[2] The latter has been put out of service.
In 2018, the track between Tarcoola and Adelaide was upgraded from 47 kilograms per metre (95 lb/yd) to 60 kilograms per metre (120 lb/yd) rails. This was done while the track was open for service, with 600 metres (2,000 ft) of rail being replaced at a time between train services. The upgrade increased the maximum permitted axle load by four tonnes.[3]
Services
editThe Ghan and the Indian Pacific passenger services pass through Tarcoola both running once per week in each direction all year round.[4][5] The mail for Tarcoola arrives by train.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ a b "Search results for 'Tarcoola Railway Station, RSTA' with the following datasets selected - 'Suburbs and localities', 'Government Towns', 'SA Government Regions', 'Gazetteer'and 'Railways'". Location SA Map Viewer. South Australian Government. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
- ^ "Tarcoola" (PDF). SA Track and Signal. Graham Vincent. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
- ^ Lysaght, Gary-Jon (4 April 2018). "Rail upgrade work commences on key Adelaide-Tarcoola route through outback South Australia". ABC North and West. Australia: ABC News. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
- ^ "Indian Pacific timetable". Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions. 1 April 2021.
- ^ Ghan Timetable April 2019 to March 2020 Archived 2 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine Great Southern Rail