Train network completely off the rails for Fringe

Adelaide’s entire train network will be closed during Adelaide Fringe’s opening weekend, as the Marshall Liberal Government continues to mishandle and delay the Gawler Line electrification project.

Despite the Fringe being one of the biggest events on South Australia’s calendar, the entire train network will be closed for the opening weekend between 18 and 21 February 2022.

Not having trains to bring people into the CBD for the Fringe is a complete disaster and another blow to CBD businesses who are already suffering under the harshest restrictions in the nation.

This could have been averted had the Liberals not bungled the Gawler Rail electrification project so badly.

The fact that the project has blown out by more than 36% or by a massive $227 million just highlights how badly this project has been managed.

On 13 July 2018 a media release from four State and Federal Ministers announced “the Marshall Liberal Government signed-off on Stage 2 of the major $615 million project” the total cost is now $842 million.

This is in addition to continual delays in the completion date for the project, which has blown out from an original estimate of 2020 to the latest estimate of April 2022.

Quotes attributable to Shadow Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Tom Koutsantonis

None of this would have been a problem if the Marshall Liberal Government hadn’t mismanaged this project.

Now the entire train network will be shutdown during on the opening weekend of one the biggest events we still have running.

In this one project alone we’ve seen multiple delays and multiple cost blow outs – now the Minister wants to take the entire train network offline on one of Adelaide’s busiest weekends of the year.

It is clear this Minister is incompetent and must be sacked.