We are local residents who would like to see the Rosewater Railway Loop transformed into green space for use by our Community.
We are interested in:
- tree canopy to create a cooler neighbourhood
- walking trails
- cycle paths
- places for being in nature
- biodiversity
We are committed to the idea of ‘transformative placemaking’ …designing places which have the community at their heart.
We are keen to work with community members along with relevant groups and agencies to develop this long-abandoned railway line.
A first step on this journey is a residents’ meeting to be held at:
Ottoway Community Hall
10am Saturday 18 January 2025
(cnr Jenkins & Grand Junction Road)
…where we hope residents can share ideas for the Loop and plan for the future.
Update - The Rosewater Loop meeting on Saturday 18 January was a great success, with 70 community members attending. Thanks so much to everyone who participated.
Here's our first issue of In the Loop with a summary of ideas shared at our first community Loop meeting.
Approximately 150 people attended the Rosewater Loop community update on 15 February 2025 at the Rosewater Bowling Club. Preliminary plans for greening the Loop were presented. They can be viewed here.
Here's our second issue of In the Loop with a report on the community update held last Saturday.
Cleaning the Loop
10am - 11.30am Saturday 1 March
North east corner of Evans Street and MarineTerrace.
Update! We welcomed 25 community members to the site and our volunteers collected 13 bags as well as piles of hard rubbish.
Thanks to everyone who took part - the area looked so much better after the clean up. Keep an eye out for GRL news for future clean ups.
Here's our latest issue of In the Loop with news of recent happenings around the Loop. Let us know if you have suggestions for our next issue.
Our next Community Gathering is coming up soon!
10-11am on Saturday 5 April
North-east corner of Evans Street and Marine Terrace.
There's a shady place under some big trees (same spot as our clean up)
An opportunity to meet community members and continue our conversations about the Loop. Bring along a chair (we will have a few) & a drink. Hope to see you there!
Photo: November 2024
At the cleanup, March 1, 2025
The Rosewater Loop was originally a branch of the railway from Dry Creek to Port Adelaide and was built in 1915 to help alleviate congestion at Port Dock yard.
There was never significant passenger traffic on the line, apart from a few trains in the morning and another couple in the afternoon for workers commuting to various industrial premises. In the early years passengers were carried along the line in carriages attached to goods trains.
By the mid-late 1920s several return trips ran each weekday between Dry Creek and Port Dock with stops were available at Wingfield, North Arm Road, Eastern Parade, Grand Junction Road and Rosewater (7.0 km). None of these stops had any substantial passenger facilities, for example, Rosewater station consisted merely of a shelter and a 2-metre-long step-down platform.
With the opening of the Holden car factory at Elizabeth in 1959, extra trains were added from Port Dock running through to GMH Elizabeth at shift-change time.
The original route into Port Adelaide through the Gillman marshalling yards closed when the yards were removed in the early 1990s.
Trains ceased to call at Wingfield, North Arm Road, and Eastern Parade stations in 1987. All passenger trains were withdrawn one year later and Rosewater and Grand Junction Road stations closed after services ceased on 29 May 1988.
The railway remained open for freight trains until they were diverted to operate via the Mary MacKillop rail Bridge over the Port River in 2008.
The Loop railway corridor last saw a train in 2010.
The Rosewater Loop is an important thread in the history of the Port. It is hoped that this history will be recorded and celebrated in any new development.
Rosewater Loop built to alleviate congestion at Port Dock yard
Extra trains added to supply workers at the newly open GMH Elizabeth car factory
All passenger services on the loop disbanded
Freight services on the loop are ceased. Last train service.
Local residents have been raising concerns about the disused railway and rail yards since the early 2000s. Over the years letters have been written to local members, Premiers, state ministers of Transport, Urban Development and Federal MPs as well as local councillors and council staff.
To its credit, PAE Council has expressed support for the redevelopment.
In 2020 ‘…the Port Adelaide/Enfield Council unsuccessfully sought support from the State Bicycle Fund to build the Rosewater Loop Bikeway, a proposal to connect residents of Rosewater, Ottoway and maybe Wingfield into the Outer Harbor Greenway & Port CBD by upgrading a disused rail line and an informal pathway in the Gillman October reserve.’ source PortBUG
In 2021 PAE Council developed a conceptual Master Plan for the corridor to include ‘a shared path for people walking and riding bikes, landscaping, community facilities and public art opportunities.’
The State government has also confirmed its commitment.
‘The South Australian Government has committed to converting the disused railway line through Rosewater and Ottaway into a green open space for the community.’ Department of Infrastructure and Transport website
The project is shown in DIT’s Forward Work Plan, with construction and delivery due to start in late 2024 and completion in the first quarter of 2025.
As we move into 2025 many local residents are feeling despondent. We are tired of the dumping of rubbish and the weeds that make the Rosewater Loop a constant eyesore.
The value of access to green space to mental and physical wellbeing has been much documented, yet our area has some of the lowest amount of tree canopy in greater Adelaide.
Imagine taking a daily walk along a green path or cycling into the Port in a matter of minutes without the worry of traffic.
See our Resources section for some inspiring stories about making cities cooler and greener.
"The reality of how we live in cities now — transport and health and access to open space and green space — those are the pressing issues of our time…"
Dr Lee Roberts (2023), research associate, University of New South Wales
Photo: November 2024
"The reality of how we live in cities now — transport and health and access to open space and green space — those are the pressing issues of our time…"
Dr Lee Roberts (2023), research associate, University of NSW
History
Conceptual Masterplan, PAE September 2021
Department of Infrastructure and Transport
From the Port Adelaide Bicycle Users Group
Interesting videos
Inspiration
How old railway lines are being repurposed into public spaces
How reclaiming abandoned train lines can create better places to live
Hackney Buzzline – transforming local parks into biodiversity corridors
Value of green space
Queensland Govt Dept of Environment - Why green spaces are good for us
Northwest City News (Melbourne) - The value of green space
Euronews- Green cities could help you live longer
Why biodiversity is important for cities
Which Plant Where - Biodiversity is Important
Transformative placemaking
Re-Thinking the Future -A blueprint for inclusive urban development
The Port Environment Centre has information about caring for our environment and local groups and projects to get involved with. Check out their Resources
You might want to:
Write to your local Port Adelaide Enfield councillor:
Write to your local member:
Joe Szakacs MP (south of Grand Junction Rd)
Hon Susan Close MP (north of Grand Junction Rd)
Let them know your hopes for the Loop
Want to be kept in the Loop?
You can register with the Department of Infrastructure and Transport for project updates here
Or contact us at
ior by using the form below and we will keep you posted about any progress
Greening Rosewater Loop acknowledges that the Loop is on Kaurna Land. We acknowledge the continuing relationship Kaurna people have to their land.
