Map A1 - Adelaide Metropolitan area

Coupled H class trams heading South between South Terrace and Greenhill Road (map ref E5) on their way from Adelaide to Glenelg (Jan 2004).

This map covers the metropolitan Adelaide region of the state of South Australia. Adelaide, with a population of around 1 million, prides itself on its artistic, culinary and sporting lifestyle. Though not his birthplace, Adelaide was the chosen home of arguably the worlds most outstanding sportsman - Don Bradman. Adelaide has some unique characteristics amongst Australian cities including that it has a particularly high proportion of its population of German ancestry, and intriguingly is the only city in the nation where the locals speak with a distinctive regional accent.

Whilst Adelaide was originally a well-planned city, local authorities since the mid 20th Century had been beholden to the motor industry, and this dramatically marred the development of adequate rail transport. Adelaide has the worst metropolitan rail service in the nation, and is the only major city in Australia without electric train services. In contrast to all other cities there are no concrete plans for any extension of the suburban rail services.

Suburban trains are operated by Transadelaide. All trains are operated by air-conditioned diesel railcars, and run over four main routes and two branch lines. The services operate regularly throughout the day, but are infrequent at night and on weekends. All trains operate to and from what was formerly Australia's grandest station - Adelaide Station which was modelled on New York's Grand Central terminal. Tragically, the grand station is but a shadow of its former self since having been converted into a casino, and the trains which once majestically arrived and departed at the grand concourse that was the front entrance to the city now slink in and out along an unpleasant covered-over set of tracks, almost as if the railway is something of which to be ashamed. Long-distance interstate trains have been banished from the grand terminal, and they now arrive and depart at a mightily unremarkable location called "Adelaide Terminal" in the industrial suburb of Keswick.

There is however a tantalising remnant of a wonderful electric street tramway system - the 'Bay Tram' runs between Adelaide City and the bayside suburb of Glenelg. Until 1958, an extensive network of electric tram routes served the city, and despite Adelaide's ideal geography and street geometry to support trams, the network was closed in what was a less enlightened era. Until 2006 this tram route was operated solely by wonderful and venerable but antique 1929 vintage American style interurban tramcars, Australia's oldest public transport vehicles in regular service. In recent years however, the tram line has been extensively rebuilt, a new fleet of modern trams has been introduced, and the line extended from its long-time terminus in Victoria Square northward to Adelaide Railway Station and City West. The H class trams do still operate some services on weekends and on special occasions, and if you do nothing else in Adelaide - ride an H-class the tram to Glenelg and experience a great remnant of Australia's transport history.

Another unique and unfortunate chapter in Australia's transport history is the O-Bahn busway which runs to the North-Eastern suburbs. In the late 1970s the opportunity arose to re-invigorate the tramway by extending it through the city along the 'Modbury Corridor'. As has all to often been the case in Adelaide, a road-based solution was preferred by the government of the day, and the German designed O-bahn guided busway was constructed instead. This still operates even today, and is worth a ride whilst in Adelaide as you are unlikely to see too many of these around the world. A proposal to construct a second busway to the southern suburbs was cancelled as recently as early 2001.

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