State Transport Authority (South Australia)

The State Transport Authority (STA) was the government agency which controlled public transport in South Australia between 1974 and 1994.
History.
The State Transport Authority was established by the "State Transport Authority Act 1974", which aimed to provide an integrated and co-ordinated system of public transport within South Australia. This was to be achieved by assuming direct control of state-operated services (particularly in the Adelaide metropolitan area) and by exercising regulatory control of privately operated services.
The STA was dissolved (and the 1974 Act repealed) as a consequence of the "Passenger Transport Act 1994." These reforms split the STA into the Passenger Transport Board, which coordinated and funded the public transport system, and TransAdelaide, which actually operated metropolitan buses, trains and trams. The formation of TransAdelaide was a prelude to competitive tendering and the introduction of private operators into the Adelaide public transport network.
Formation.
In the period following its establishment on 18 April 1974, the State Transport Authority took over the functions of three government agencies. These were initially structured as three independent divisions of the STA:
Sale of railways.
In 1975, the Whitlam Federal Government proposed a nationalisation program for Australia’s railways. It was recognised at the time that Australia’s system of separate state-controlled railways led to unnecessary duplication of facilities and administration, inefficient operating practices, high costs and the lack of a uniform national approach to railway policy. Whitlam’s proposal aimed to address these issues.
South Australia and Tasmania were the only states which agreed to the nationalisation plan and in South Australia’s case the transfer agreement only extended to railways outside the Adelaide suburban area.
On 1 July 1975, the Federal Government took over financial responsibility for the non-metropolitan railways in South Australia and reimbursed the South Australian government for operating deficits incurred after this time. After formation of the Rail Division on 8 December 1975, the STA continued to administer and operate all the ex South Australian Railways (SAR) on behalf of the Federal government. This interim arrangement lasted for over two years while the precise details of the sale of South Australia’s railways were devised, disputed and re-negotiated, and the operating and management structures of the new Federal-controlled railway were put into place.
Eventually, on 1 March 1978 the responsibility for management of all South Australia’s non-metropolitan railways was transferred to the Australian National Railways Commission. This included much of the former SAR infrastructure, rolling stock and staff.
The STA retained ownership and responsibility for all the suburban railway system around Adelaide, including the centrally located Adelaide railway station, the entire fleet of Redhen railcars and two 830 class diesel locomotives. At the same time, the separate Rail and Bus & Tram Divisions of the STA were combined.
Chronology.
The following developments occurred in Adelaide’s public transport system during the STA era.
Railway line closures.
In past years, one feature of Adelaide’s railway system was the number of industrial branch lines which were intended mainly for freight, but were also provided with passenger trains at peak hours. These industrial trains were progressively rationalised during the STA era, along with some other lightly used services.
"Note regarding closure dates: Common railway practice is to record the official closure of a line as a date which falls on a Sunday. In cases where the train service only operated Monday to Friday, this means the last train would actually have run on the preceding Friday. This was the situation in most (but not all) examples in the table above. Hence the “last train” date quoted may differ by a day or two from the official record."
Publications.
"Keeping Track" was the STA's house journal that was founded by the SAR in August 1973 when "Rail News" was renamed. It continued to be published until April 1976.