Glenelg line extended in 2007 but trams ADELink halted; South Australia Liberal government in 2019 moves to privatise

Glenelg tram line was extended down King William Street to North Terrace, Adelaide city, in 2007. A 2013 state government proposal envisaged an AdeLINK tram network that would include resuming former city links through inner suburbs.
Image by Kylie Fleming

Glenelg line remained Adelaide’s only tramway from 1958 until 2007 when it was extended from Victoria Square in Adelaide city to North Terrace and then onto the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Port Road, Hindmarsh, in 2009.

Sections down to the Adelaide Festival Centre/Adelaide Oval from King William Street (anticipating an extension to O'Connell Street, North Adelaide, and from the Adelaide Railway Station stop eastward down North Terrace to the former Royal Adelaide Hospital site were added in 2018.

Government proposals going back to 2013 envisaged an AdeLINK tram network that would include:

• CityLINK – a tram running in a continuous loop at regular intervals along the Morphett Street, Sturt Street, Halifax Street and Frome Street corridors, with transfers available from other tram lines and railway stations

• PortLINK – converting the Outer Harbor train line to deliver a tram service to Outer Harbor, Port Adelaide and Grange, and construct new tram lines to West Lakes and Semaphore

• EastLINK − a tram line running along The Parade, Norwood, to Magill.

• WestLINK – a tram line running along Henley Beach Road to Henley Square, with a branch line to Adelaide Airport. The tram line to Glenelg would also form part of WestLINK)

• ProspectLINK − a tram line running from Grand Junction Road along Prospect Road and O’Connell Street

• UnleyLINK – a tram line running along Unley Road and Belair Road to Mitcham.

Six French-made Alstom Citadis model 302 trams bought secondhand – but virtually unused as surplus stock – from Madrid in 2017 added to the German Bombadier Flexity Classics that replaced the vintage Type H trams on the Glenelg line in 2006.

The Liberal state government elected in 2018 put these plans, starting with the proposed line to inner eastern suburb Norwood, on hold. It was unable to fulfil a promise for a right-hand turn from King William Street for the tram running down the eastern end of North Terrace, Adelaide.

In 2019, the government announced plans to privatise the trams along with Adelaide suburban trains network.