Type goods and passengers Closed 1969 (1969) Locale South Australia | Status closed and removed Track gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) | |
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System South Australian Railways Opened 20 January 1915 (1915-01-20) Terminis Willunga railway station, Adelaide railway station | ||
The Willunga railway line ran through the southern Adelaide suburbs from Adelaide railway station to Willunga, over 45-kilometre (28 mi) long (longer than the current Gawler line, 42.2 kilometres (26.2 mi)). The line was opened in Willunga by the Governor of South Australia Sir Henry Galway on 20 January 1915, and initially had 16 stopping places between Adelaide and Willunga. It closed beyond Hallett Cove in 1969 and was dismantled in 1972. The Seaford railway line continues from Hallett Cove along a different alignment.
The original corridor remains as the 34-kilometre (21 mi) long Coast to Vines Rail Trail. There is some evidence of railway track remaining on this trail, notably near the South Road crossing at Hackham, the top of the Seaford Hill and a small section of track in a paddock adjacent to Victor Harbor Road, McLaren Vale. Occasionally, rails surface through the bitumen at Field Street, McLaren Vale.
At the time of its opening, there was a proposal to extend it to Second Valley to connect with coastal steam shipping to Kangaroo Island for holidays, with the route already approved as far as Normanville and Yankalilla. This extension was never built.