By 1937, this line was extended to Port Pirie and was used by the broad gauge East-West express, which connected with the Commonwealth Railways Trans-Australian service to Kalgoorlie.

In 1941, a second junction was installed north of Salisbury, from which a 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) branch line served a large, hurriedly built World War II munitions complex at Penfield, the area is now known as Edinburgh.

During the war years, many hundreds of workers were conveyed to three stations on the central line of the branch since Salisbury was a largely rural community and most of the workforce had to be brought in from other districts.

A more limited peak hour service to Penfield continued after the war, serving staff at the UK and Australian governments' Weapons Research Establishment, later to become the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.

The last passenger train on the Holden branch ran in August 1992, and the remaining freight traffic stopped when the Melbourne to Adelaide line was converted to standard gauge in 1995.

This is still the situation at Salisbury today, although ownership and responsibilities have now transferred from AN to the Australian Rail Track Corporation and from the STA to Adelaide Metro.

On 17 December 1985, Salisbury station was opened as a major bus/rail interchange by State Premier John Bannon and Federal Minister for Transport Peter Morris.

[citation needed] In October 2002, the level crossing on Park Terrace, immediately south of the station platforms was the scene of a fatal collision between The Ghan, several cars and a bus.