Railways in Perth
Railways in Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, have existed since 1881, when the Eastern Railway was opened between Fremantle and Guildford. Today, Perth has eight Transperth suburban railway lines and 86 railway stations.
The Transperth network is owned and operated by the WA Public Transport Authority and consists of eight lines: the Airport, Armadale, Ellenbrook, Fremantle, Mandurah, Midland, Thornlie–Cockburn, and Yanchep lines. Perth's trains had 53.2 million boardings in the 2022–23 financial year, giving the Transperth rail network the third highest patronage out of all of Australia's suburban rail networks.
A notable feature of Perth's urban rail network is that a significant portion of it operates in the median of freeways, with dedicated bus-train interchanges and extensive Park & Ride facilities provided at certain stations. Passengers arrive on feeder buses or use P&R and transfer to trains at railway stations. These system design features are a response to Perth's low density.
History
The Eastern Railway was the first railway to be constructed in the Perth metropolitan area. It travelled from Fremantle to Guildford via Perth and opened in 1881. It was first proposed in 1871 following the success of railways in Sydney and Melbourne. In 1874, two possible routes were suggested: one traveling north of the Swan River via Perth and one travelling south of the river with a branch line to Perth. The Department of Works and Railways was formed in 1877. The northern route was chosen in July 1878, and the contract for the construction of the railway was awarded to John Robb at a cost of £74,591/19/5 later that year. Governor Harry Ord turned the first sod on 3 June 1879, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of British settlement of Western Australia.The railway was operable as far east as Perth station by 9 October 1880 and on 1 March 1881, the railway was officially opened between Fremantle and Guildford by Governor William Robinson. The initial timetable was five trains per day from Fremantle, two terminating at Perth and three terminating at Guildford. There was a severe shortage of rolling stock, and so the trains operated simultaneously as passenger and goods trains. A contract was awarded to J. W. Wright for £53,043 for the extension of the line to Chidlow. This extension opened to traffic on 11 March 1884. Suburban trains terminated at Guildford still.
The railway was initially just single tracked with the only passing loop being at Perth. Another passing loop was built at Claremont in 1885, and soon after, sidings were built at Guildford. In 1886, a branch line opened in Bayswater to the Swan River foreshore near Ascot Racecourse.
The South Western Railway between Perth and Bunbury opened on 2 May 1893.
On 21 February 1896, a new route for the Eastern Railway between Midland Junction and Mount Helena via Swan View opened. It had a lower gradient than the first route and upon opening, it became the main line with the old route being relegated. The maximum grade of the new route was 1:40 whereas the maximum grade of the old route was 1:29. The new route featured the Swan View Tunnel, the first rail tunnel in Western Australia.
Suburban trains on the Eastern Railway were extended to Midland Junction when the Midland Railway Workshops opened in 1904/5. By 1906, suburban trains ran as far as Bellevue on the Eastern Railway and as far as Maddington on the South Western Railway. Kelmscott and Armadale were considered country towns and were served by the less frequent trains to Bunbury.
18 WAGR ADG class railcars were added to the network in 1954, marking the first time that diesel trains were used for suburban services. As they had a higher acceleration, more closely spaced stations were able to be built, and so on 28 November 1954, seven new stations opened: Ashfield station on the Midland line; Grant Street, Loch Street and Victoria Street stations on the Fremantle line; and Beckenham, Oats Street and Stokely stations on the Armadale line. Headways at this time were 20 minutes on the Fremantle and Midland lines and 40 minutes on the Armadale line. The introduction of diesel railcars reduced the time to get to Perth from Fremantle, Bellevue or Armadale, and resulted in an increase in patronage. In 1953–54, there were 7.8 million boardings, which increased to 13.8 million five years later. This increase was only temporary though, with patronage dropping below 10 million per year in 1964 due to the widespread adoption of cars. By 5 October 1968, suburban services were fully operated by diesel railcars for the first time.
Decline
Until the 1950s, the urban development of Perth closely followed the train and tram lines, but following the advent of car-based planning, urban development began to stretch north and south where there were no railways or tramways. The 1955 Plan for the Metropolitan Region, Perth and Fremantle, also known as the Stephenson-Hepburn Report, reinforced this. The report proposed the construction of freeways throughout the Perth metropolitan area and for railways to Morley and Whitfords. When the Metropolitan Region Scheme was adopted in 1963, reserves were set for the freeways but not the railways. Over the following decades, rail patronage declined and the system fell into disrepair.In 1970, the Perth Regional Transport Study recommended that the rail system be replaced with busways, but the subsequent Tonkin government decided against this after looking at public opinion on this. In 1978, the Rail and Bus Policies for the Fremantle Corridor report recommended that the Fremantle line close and be replaced with buses. On 2 September 1979, the Fremantle line was controversially closed to passenger services by the Charles Court Liberal government. A group named the "Friends of the Railways" was formed to advocate against the closure. Following the closure, the Fremantle corridor saw a 30 percent drop in patronage and a petition with over 100,000 was presented to parliament. The Liberal government was defeated in the 1983 state election and several months later, the Fremantle line reopened on 29 July 1983.
Revival
Soon after the Fremantle line reopened, the state government decided to investigate electrifying the network. It confirmed plans to electrify the network in 1985 and also announced it was investigating building a new transit line to the northern suburbs, what would later become the Joondalup line. New engineering standards were developed to permit trains to fit into and safely run within freeway medians. Electrification commenced in 1989 and the new electric trains, now known as the Transperth A-series trains, commenced operations in September 1991.The Northern Suburbs Rapid Transit Study investigated whether the northern suburbs should get bus rapid transit, light rail or heavy rail, among other options. The choice eventually settled on was for heavy rail, like the rest of the rail network. Construction on the Joondalup line began in 1990. The line mostly ran though the median of the Mitchell Freeway, deviating east at Joondalup. It had significantly wider station spacing than the original three lines and several stations were designed as bus-train interchanges. The line opened to partial service on 21 December 1992 with three stations operational. All the stations along the line from Perth to Joondalup opened in March 1993, along with reforms to the bus network in the northern suburbs so that buses fed into interchanges along the railway. Later that year, the Joondalup line was extended to Currambine.
New MetroRail
Planning for the Mandurah line commenced soon after the Joondalup line opened. The first Transperth B-series trains arrived in June 2004 and the new Nowergup rail depot on the Joondalup line opened. The Joondalup line was extended to Clarkson station, opening on 4 October 2004. The Thornlie line, a spur off the Armadale line, opened on 7 August 2005. The Mandurah line opened on 23 December 2007. The Joondalup line was extended again to Butler, opening on 21 September 2014.Metronet
Construction on the Forrestfield–Airport Link began in November 2016. The FAL involved the construction of of twin-bored tunnels to connect Perth Airport and Perth's eastern suburbs to the rail network. The FAL opened as the Airport line on 9 October 2022. The last Transperth B-series train entered service in mid-2019 as set 126.The first Transperth C-series train, set 130 entered service on 8 April 2024 on the Mandurah and Yanchep lines.
The Joondalup line was extended from Butler to Yanchep. Construction for the extention began in mid-2020, and it opened on 14 July 2024, coinciding with the line's renaming to the Yanchep line.
Construction on the Ellenbrook line commenced in January 2022. The line opened on 8 December 2024, branching off from the Midland railway line at a reconstructed and improved Bayswater station.
Construction on the Thornlie–Cockburn Link to extend the Thornlie line to Cockburn Central on the Mandurah line commenced in 2019. This extension opened on 8 June 2025, becoming Perth's first orbital passenger railway connection.
The Victoria Park-Canning Level Crossing Removal Project commenced in November 2023. This project elevated the Armadale line between Victoria Park and Beckenham stations, removing six level crossings, rebuilding five stations and closing one permanently. This project necessitated the closure of the Armadale and Thornlie lines between Victoria Park and both former termini for 18 months with services resuming to Cannington on the Armadale line on 8 June 2025.
The construction of the Byford Rail Extention began in November 2023. This project saw the Armadale line extended by to a new terminus station at Byford, opening on 13 October 2025.
Works on constucting the New Midland Station began in July 2023. The new station provides a multi-storey carpark which opened on 20 January 2025, a new bus interchange with twelve stands, the new station will feature two platforms for suburban services and one platform for Transwa's regional trains. The new station is planned to open on 22 February 2026.