In lieu of delays due to the temporary closure of the rail line, the Malinauskas Labor Government will provide substitute buses for the Gawler rail line commuters free from Monday until the rail line re-opens.
The line was set to re-open in April 2022, and the project faces a further cost of as much as $60 million and possibly more.
The cost of the Gawler Rail Electrification Project has blown out by nearly $300 million since its commencement in 2018. The initial deadline for the project was late 2020, but that has since been delayed by over eighteen months.
In a bid to compensate “long-suffering commuters”, the Malinauskas Labor Government will waive all fares for substitute buses running between Gawler and the city.
The Malinauskas Labor Government is claiming in a recent media release, that the delays are a result of the Marshall Liberal Government not preparing for the impending fallout of the stalled project.
“The former Marshall Liberal Government was aware of both the time delay risks and the risk of another cost blowout before the election but did not publicly disclose this information” they said.
Infrastructure & Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis, acknowledges the ongoing issues that Gawler commuters are encountering.
“Whichever way you look at it, the Gawler Rail Electrification Project has been a debacle and it has been commuters who have suffered” he says.
Koutsantonis goes on to say, that “the Malinauskas Labor Government is stepping up with a modest bid to compensate commuters by offering free substitute buses until the rail line re-opens. Commuters had a right to know about these latest delays and cost blowouts and the new government is making this information public today”.
The free substitute buses will be available until the line reopens. The speculated new opening date will be June 30.
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