Perth's MetroNET programme explained

perth in western australia is currently undergoing a major rail expansion project known as metronet the program is building new and upgraded rail lines throughout perth so today let's take a look at metronet [Music] let's quickly take a look at some history perth has been progressively upgrading its rail system for many years after the system sort of got to its worst in 1979 when the fremantle alarm was closed the system started to go up again the fremantle line was reopened in 1983 followed by a network electrification which was completed in 1991 and then the northern suburbs rapid transit as it was then called line to caranbine opened in 1993. after that the thornley spur opened in 2005 and the mandrel line opened in 2007. perth's train system is thus now better than ever but it's only going to get even better the metronet program includes 15 individual projects these are in no particular order the gan chep extension the morley ellenbrook line the caledonian avenue level crossing removal the new midland station the forest field airport link the new bay's water station the inner armadale line level crossing removals the biford rail extension the claremont station upgrade the installation of high capacity signaling the new kind up station the new lakeland station the new c-series railcars the thornley coburn link and the denny avenue level crossing removal now we'll take a look at each of these projects in detail starting with the new lines the first of the new lines is the forest field airport link the forest field airport link will connect some of perth's eastern suburbs in the airport to the rail system for the first time the projects involve constructing 8.5 kilometers of new double track electrified narrow gauge rail and three stations the project starts at the new bayswater junction where the tunnel portal is located the line then continues underground parallel to the existing tonkan highway and goes beneath the swan river after crossing the swan river the route then goes through the suburb of redcliffe to the first station of the same name located near the corner of dunreath drive and breeley avenue the station is underground in the heart of the suburb there is an estimated 15-minute travel time from the station to perth's cbd the train line then continues underground going beneath perth airport to the next station which is called airport central airport central station is located in the middle of the current airport car park with a new sky bridge providing direct access to the terminals there will be a very competitive travel time provided by trains to get to perth's cbd finally the route will then continue underground to get to the existing forest field freight yard or then go up to the surface but actually into cutting to arrive at the final station high wycombe high wickham station will be located near the corner of maida vale and dundas roads bus connections and car parking will be available the terminus is built with provision for a future extension further down to connect to the thornley coburn link the project was originally anticipated to open in 2020 that was later delayed 2021 and now again to the first half of 2022 when the line opens services will run every 15 minutes from high wickham to perth station and then continue into claremont where the station has been upgraded as part of the project with two new turnbacks and improved bus interchanges the next of the new lines is the thornley coburn link currently the thornley spur is a simple one station branch off the armadale line it opened in 2005 utilizing some infrastructure that had previously been built for the originally planned route of the mandrel line this branch will be duplicated as part of the project from thornley a new double track electrified line will run parallel to the existing double track freight bypass line with the next station being located at the nicholson road bridge this station will be called nicholson road and will have a travel time around 26 minutes to perth the line then continues along the freight line to ranford road where the next station of the same name is located this station will have a travel time of around 29 minutes to perth the line then continues along the freight line until around 200 metres east of the quinana freeway where it will then use the existing gleniris tunnel that was constructed as part of upgrades to the quinana freeway previously to connect into the existing mandrel line services will terminate at coburn central which is the next station along the mandrel line after the glaniris tunnel this line will be the first railway in perth that will connect two rail lines together without travelling into the cbd it is expected to open in 2023 services will run every 15 minutes from perth to coburn central stopping all stations the final of the new lines is the morley ellenbrook line this line will service parts of northeast perth that are currently not served by a rail line this line will start at the rebuilt bay's water station which i'll talk about more later it will use new tracks to the north of the existing midland line for several hundred meters before going in a curve heading north east the line then crosses the northbound lanes of the tonkin highway before lowering down and going into its median the line's first station will be moorly located at the brown avenue bridge which would be 15 minutes from perth station her line then continues in the median to the next station naranda naranda station will be located next to the banara road bridge with an 18-minute travel time to perth after going through the reed and tonkin highway interchange the line continues for another several hundred meters in the median of the tonkin highway before going into a tunnel beneath the southbound lanes of it and then heading east the next station malaga will be located several hundred meters east of the tonkin highway and will be 21 minutes from perth station the line will then run east south east until across the bennett brook and head directly east provision will be made for a future station at bennett springs east to be located between dullich and cheltenham streets the line will then head north east to reach the western side of drumpilia drive which it will follow the next station at whiteman park will be elevated at the entrance to the park with a 25-minute travel time to perth for the first time since 1958 it will be possible to transfer to a tram at a transperth train station with the perth electric tramway society set to reactivate an existing section of line to the station and use heritage trams to get to weinman village the line will then continue running along the western side of drumpellier drive as far as its intersection with gnargrove road i'm sure i mispronounced that well we'll go into a tunnel beneath the intersection and then rise to the surface on the eastern side of drampelier road it will then head north east using an existing reserved corridor to get to ellen brook station which will be located near the parkway and have a 30-minute travel time to perth this line is expected to be complete in late 2024 now we will move on to rail extensions starting with the yanchep rail extension the yanchep rail extension will extend the joondalup line by 14.5 kilometers from the current terminus at butler to yanchep providing a rail line to the growing areas which are expected to have a population of more than 150 000 residents in future the line starts at the current butler station where it heads north to the first station alchemists alchemos station be located in the future town centre near romeo road and is expected to have a travel time of 41 minutes from perth the line then continues to the second station eglinton eglinton station will be located 46 minutes from perth by train and will be located south of pippidini road in a futurist town centre continuing north the final station yanship will be located approximately 49 minutes from perth and will be south of the future torreo pango avenue again i'm sure i mispronounced that and it's planned to become the heart of perth's newest strategic business center this extension is scheduled to be completed in 2022 in future this line may be extended further north again to rocks the other rail extension planned is the byford rail extension currently bifid is already served by a train however that is the twice daily australian service which runs from perth to bunbury two trains daily is not enough for a suburb of growing city let alone bunbury itself and so the armadale line will be extended to byford this will involve duplicating electrifying the rail line from armadale to the new byford station and removing all intermediate level crossings the new byford station will be located closer to the town centre approximately one kilometers north of the current station and will feature two platforms and modern amenities potentially elevated rail may also be built in the byford and armadale town centers which would thus also remove two additional level crossings this project is planned to be complete in 2024 now we will move on to the level crossing removals as part of metronet at least eight level crossings on the current suburban system will be removed with one already removed reducing the total number of level crossings in perth from 31 to just 23. the first level crossing removal project is at the denny avenue level crossing this project is already completed and involves replacing the current denny avenue level crossing with a new road underpass on davis avenue the underpass is connected to a realigned third avenue the crossing permanently closed on the 1st of april and the new road underpass opened just 22 days later on friday the 23rd of april this is thus the first of perth's level crossing removal projects to be completed the next project is the inner armadale line level crossing removals which will remove a total of six level crossings along the armadale line starting south of the current miller robert street overpass the line will climb up onto a new elevated structure the first current level crossing will be removed will be the mint archer street crossing with a new elevated carlisle station to be constructed it then continues south along the current alignment to the next level crossing at oat street with a slightly relocated oat street station constructed after that the line will then go down onto ground level again for a short period before then climbing up onto a short embankment with a new rail over road bridge constructed at welsh pool road unfortunately this project will result in the closure of welsh pool station after it was decided that it would not be feasible to retain the station as part of the project the line then continues onto the current tracks below the leech highway overpass before again climbing up onto an elevated structure to go over the level crossing at hamilton street a new queen's park station will be constructed on the site of the current station but elevated the line will then continue elevated above the current wharf street level crossing before continuing to a new cannington station and bus interchange and the site of the current station the line will then go back down to ground level to pass beneath the existing gerard street overpass before climbing back up again briefly to a new beckenham station with the williams street level crossing removed after that the line will then go back down to ground level and continue along the current alignment armadale this elevated rail will be like the sky rail that has been popping up around melbourne making perth the second city in australia to use this method of removing crossings skyrail was also proposed for the hove level crossing removal in adelaide however that project has now been dropped the last level crossing removal is the caledonian avenue level crossing removal of all the projects this project has by far the least detail with early work still occurring allegedly the preferred solution will be identified before the forest field airport link becomes operational there is no time frame for construction or completion of this level crossing removal yet now we will take a look at the new and upgraded stations being constructed as part of metronet the first of the upgraded station is the new bayes water station the new bay's water station is being constructed to enable the morley ellenbrook line to be constructed and to improve the current station this will involve the replacement of the current station with the new elevated four track station i'm assuming there'll be provision made for future quadruplication from the city to bay's water although that is not a project included in metronet this project will eliminate the current bay's water bridge which is notorious for being hit by tall road vehicles designs have been released already and construction will start soon the other upgraded station is the new midland station midland station is being relocated several hundred meters east to improve connectivity and get the station closer to the height of the suburb as well as the relocated station the existing helena street level crossing will be replaced by a new level crossing at cale street and 1.7 kilometers of new track will be built to connect the midland line to the new bellevue depot as well planning is underway for an extension of the midland line to bellevue however this will not be included as part of the current project two new stations also plan to be built on the mandrel line between the current warnborough and mandra stations warnbro and mandra stations are located approximately 23 kilometers apart however this area is already partially built up and as such new stations will be necessary to improve the catchment to these areas the first of the new stations is lakeland station located south of lake valley drive the new station will open in 2023 and will be approximately six kilometers north of mandurah station there will be a 400 bay car park constructed as well as a bus interchange the station is expected to have a daily ridership of 2 300 passengers when it opens and have 3500 passengers per day in 2031. the other news station is khanub station this station will be located north of paganoni road after an assessment both lakeland and khanup station were identified as potential locations for stations however because the federal government would contribute a significant amount of money to the lakeland station it was decided to progress that station first however khan up station remains part of metronet and will be constructed just at a later time there is no date for start of construction or completion as part of metronet to provide trains that will be necessary for the new services and to replace the aging a series rail cars a total of 246 trains to the new c series design will be produced these trains will be made entirely in western australia and six trains of a diesel design will also be acquired to replace the trains on the australian service to bunbury these trains are projected to enter service in 2022 further trains could also potentially be acquired in future for more metro net projects and also to increase service levels a mock-up has already been produced and was displayed earlier this year these trains will be very similar to the extrapolis 2.0 trains currently being ordered for melbourne's rail network all carriages will be in service by 2029 at least part of the present order the final metronet program is the high capacity signaling project this will involve the introduction of high capacity signaling to perth's entire rail system enabling for more trains to operate more often with perth's current signaling system enabling around 24 trains per hour maximum a high capacity signaling system will enable 30 trains per hour or more this system will progressively be introduced over the next 12 years and that's all the current metronet projects but there are more projects planned for the future after the completion of the current stage 1 projects additional projects may include the east wanaroo line connecting the morley ellenbrook line to the joondalup line via the east wanaroo development area the north circular line running from a new gwell up station between sterling and warwick on the joondalup line to narranda station on the maldi ellenbrook line the bellevue extension extending the midland line to bellevue the south circular line running from high wikim to thornley and from fremantle to coburn the mundi zhong extension electrifying and duplicating the line from byford to mundidjong and various light rail projects such as from fremantle to murdoch and within the inner city and suburbs these projects will likely be built after the completion of the current metronet projects with most of the physical infrastructure to be completed by 2025 and several projects continuing on until about 2030 the metronet program's benefits will start to be realised only a few years from now to wrap up i'll briefly talk about my opinion on the projects i certainly think it's very good that perth is building all these new rail lines to connect its existing suburbs that do not have rail access to the rail network which will get people out of their cars and onto the train in my opinion some projects are not necessarily the greatest as they're feeding urban sprawl such as the yanchep extension or a future mundijong electrification however most likely this urban sprawl would occur without the railway anyway so it is better to build the railway there i would like to see perth do some work to densify its existing suburbs though instead of continuing to spread out the mandrel line going 70 kilometers beyond the cbd is rather extreme for example overall i do think the program is very good though and i hope to be able to go and visit perth and see it in action once it is complete so essentially in conclusion perth is building a large amount of new or upgraded rail infrastructure which will significantly increase the size of its current rail network with most projects to be completed by 2025. these projects will cost a significant amount but will have significant benefits as well if you're still here thank you very much for watching i hope you enjoyed and learnt some stuff in the next video i'll probably return to melbourne but i'll likely do more interstate videos in the future as well if you'd like to feel free to join my community discord server so you can have a chat with me and other people thanks for watching and i'll see you in the next video

Channel: MetroManMelbourne

Views: 64,557

Keywords:

Id: A56RYBTK0L4

Length: 17min 51sec (1071 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 21 2021