<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> A year after it was canned by the 2012-13 state budget, South Australiaâs Gawler line from Adelaide to Dry Creek will be electrified thanks to funding in the 2013-14 budget. </span> <p>The new budget, announced last week by the SA government, includes $152.4m over three years to electrify the Gawler line and to build a new electrical substation at Kilburn.</p><p>SA’s premier and treasurer, Jay Weatherill, assured voters investment in infrastructure remains central to the government’s commitment to the economy, adding that the budget allocation to electrify the Gawler line fulfils the state government’s commitment to resuming funding for the electrification program as revenues allow.</p><p>“This is the first step in the resumption of the electrification of the Gawler line and continues our commitment to create a cleaner, faster, more efficient rail network,” Weatherill said.</p><p>“The Government has been clear that we would resume electrifying the network once there was room in the Budget. These works complement the recent track upgrade and station upgrades along the Gawler line at Elizabeth, Elizabeth South, Gawler and Munno Para.”</p><p>The funding will pay for a second electrical substation to provide sufficient power to extend the electrified network along the Gawler line, and the installation of a new signalling and communications system along the Gawler line as far as Dry Creek.</p><p>“The electrification of the Gawler Line also will provide efficiencies and enable maintenance of rolling stock at Dry Creek,” Weatherill’s department added.</p><p>Work on the line is anticipated to start in November, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.</p><p>The announcement reverses the decision made in last year’s budget, when the electrification of the Gawler line was postponed indefinitely, meaning diesel railcars had to be operated on the line instead.</p>
