Adelaide-based federal corporation manages tracks used nationally by private freight and passenger trains

A Pacific National freight train hauling through the Adelaide Hills.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation, an Adelaide-based agency of the Australian federal government, owned, managesd and maintained 8,500km of the national rail network into the early 21st Century. This included standard gauge interstate lines heading north and south out of Adelaide, together with the dual-gauge freight-only branch from Dry Creek to Port Adelaide and Pelican Point.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation lines bypassed the city centre to the west. Its network extended from Adelaide towards Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Darwin and carries a large amount interstate freight traffic.

Around 450 freight and passenger trains were managed daily by Australian Rail Track Corporation.

Freight trains were operated by private operators on the the Australian Rail Track Corporation network. The largest of these freight carriers was Pacific National that handles most of interstate traffic and had the largest locomotive fleet. Other logistics companies also operated freight trains to and from interstate destinations and within South Australia.

Genesee & Wyoming Australia owned the remaining broad-gauge lines beyond the Adelaide suburban network. These are a handful of lines used mainly to move bulk grain and stone from the Barossa Valley and mid-north region of the state to the Port Adelaide area.

Genesee & Wyoming Australia also operates standard-gauge branches to Apamurra, Loxton and Pinnaroo (all in the Murray Mallee area). These transport seasonal grain traffic to ports for export. Several of these branches have become disused since 2014.

Great Southern Rail was a private company operating long-distance passenger trains on the Australian Rail Track Corporation standard gauge lines, and run from the Adelaide Parklands Terminal (formerly Keswick Rail Terminal) just west of the CBD.