A Small City with a Big Rail Network! | Railways of Perth Explained

With less than 2 million people, Perth is not a large city, but its rail network will soon grow to over 200 kilometres, and presents numerous lessons for retrofitting high quality public transit and serving suburban areas. Enjoy!

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Hi, my name's Reece. I'm a passionate Creator, Transportation Planner, and Software Developer, interested in rapid transportation all around my home base of Toronto, Canada, as well as the whole world!

[RMTransit]

Check out our latest video on Brisbane's amazing transit right here:

[Erebos]

as someone who lives in perth and has never really put too much thought into the public transport, this was very entertaining and educational to watch. Thank you.

[Holgast]

Hi Reece. I'm not familiar with your channel, but this video was posted on the Perth subreddit. We all enjoyed your attempt to pronounce Joondalup. We say 'Joon-duh-lup', with all syllables around the same length. Thanks for covering our city, and we'd love to have you if you do plan to visit or stay!
There were originally plans to sink the main rail line, but that hasn't come to full fruition yet. They are removing several level crossings through the city though. Bayswater Station is currently under renovations. There's a bridge by the station that is infamous for having trucks disregard the low headroom sign and run into it, but it's being removed and replaced with a better bridge. The bridge is a local meme with a running count online of 'days since incident', which sadly will disappear after the renovations are completed.

[ynerrad]

So a fun fact is when Perth electrified their rail network, Auckland bought their old rolling stock and that was what we used until a majority of our network was electrified 10 or so years ago. We still use a few of the diesel rolling stock for a section of the network that is still yet to be electrified. I think the two cities also use the same rail gauge, thus the use of their old trains.

[Hadrianus]

I'm from Perth and grew up using (and hating) Perth's public transport. But I now truly appreciate it and think it's pretty good for a city given its circumstances.
Perth is a notoriously low density and sprawling city, where car ownership reigns supreme - quite the opposite of New York or London or any other city lauded for its public transport. Yes driving to most places isn't for everyone...but using it for your regular commute (most people's most commune route) is just fine once you've worked it out.
Trains on the Joondalup and Mandurah line feel luxurious - so spacious, clean and frequent. Probably the best I've travelled out (outside the mega-dense cities in Asia like Tokyo and Singapore). I look forward to the future growth and improvements to the rail network!

[tdb]

He's doing my hometown! Woo! I think a lot of Aussies probably don't realise that Perth has really good public transport. Perth did things very differently to the rest of the country as there was no appetite to privatise anything here, so that allows Transperth to coordinate everything and develop long plan goals. The system is also cheap to use. I believe the new airport line will travel through Perth Station and terminate in Claremont - new facilities have just been built there. I live in Subiaco so now two lines will use my station and I shouldn't have to wait for longer than 5 minutes for a train.

[lmlmd]

Sydneysider here, just coming into say that having spent some time in Perth, they hands down have the best transit in Australia. Absolutely fantastic train service, and the bus-rail integration is spot on. In Sydney I always drive unless I'm going right into the CBD or the airport (not because the airport is well connected from the western suburbs, but because the parking is even more painful than changing at Central). In Perth, even if where you want to go isn't on the rail system, no problem - the buses are logical, easy to figure out, clean, reliable and well planned. Oh... and in the CBD.... completely free. Frikkin awesome.

[Stokie]

Holy Crap so much has happened since this video was uploaded. since then the the following has happened.
- The Airport Line opened
- Bayswater Station was demolished (Along with the bayswater bridge) and the new station is under construction.
- The new C-Series cars have been under going testing on the Mandurah and Joondalup lines.
- The Armadale line is closed from Victoria Park station to Armadale to make way for the removal of level crossings and the new Byford station.
- the Yanchep rail extension is under going testing and will be open this year.
- Lakelands station opened on the Mandurah line
- The Morley-Ellenbrook line will be opened later this year.

[AccumulatedGestures]

I really enjoyed seeing this video about the quality rail network of my home city. I'm a transport consultant myself and often feel people in Perth don't recognise how high quality our public transport network is. For a city that was literally planned around the car in the 1950s and has massive sprawl issues, the way they've retrofitted such a high quality rail network into a car-oriented city is quite impressive and should be a model for other car based cities.

Something else you might find interesting is that every railway line also has a cycle path going alongside it, with major stations having large secure bike cages that require an ID'd Smartrider to access. Combined with a very high quality cycle path network (Perth is a very bike friendly city), this offers a lot of excellent last mile solutions. It is literally faster for me to cycle to my nearest station on the Mandurah line than to drive or catch a bus.

[zanelindsay]

The Perth suburban rail system is world class now, a long ways from what I remember in 1969 with the old diesel railcars. The 1979–1983 Fremantle line closure was a low point. I revisited Perth in 2009 and was really impressed with the expanded and modernized suburban rail system.

[letsseeif]

Thanks for your excellent video. As a Melbournian, I find it ironic that Perth's rail coverage hasn't got more coverage in Australian media. And it took a Canadian to do it!

[RoyGardnerra]

Blown away ! Learned more about my local rail transit network from a Canadian than from having lived here for 60 years ! Great channel, great video. The rail upgrades for the new Perth stadium now allow up to 22 trains to be stacked to enable movement of about 28, 500 per hour to or from the venue. A magnificent visual site when it is operating at full capacity during stadium events.

[ianmorris]

Some additional points regarding the Perth rail system:
1. the Armadale line will be extended further south to Byford to access that growing area, adding 8 kilometres of track and one station (at Byford)
2. the Midland line may be extended further east to Bellevue which would add about 2 kilometres of track and one station (at Bellevue) whilst Midland Station is being relocated about 500 metres east of its existing location
3. there has been no desire to add additional tracks to the Midland line as it is believed the new signalling system will cope with the anticipated traffic on the Perth to Bayswater section of 24 trains per hour, as well as a couple of pinch points where four tracking in any case would not be possible (so say the planners anyway)
4. one of the primary reasons for the Thornlie-Cockburn line right now is in fact to run through trains from Mandurah to Perth Stadium Station to encourage people to take the train to events at Perth Stadium rather than cars (a new platform is being built at Perth Stadium Station to accommodate these trains)
5. there is a potential to extend the electrified system from Thornlie Station to High Wycombe Station (terminus of the Airport Line) along the existing freight corridor to make direct trains from Mandurah and Armadale/Byford to Perth Airport as High Wycombe Station has been built to make such an extension feasible with minimal work. There is a short chord at Kenwick Station already extant that connects the Armadale Line to the existing freight line
6. Should it become necessary in the future, the Thornlie-Cockburn link could be easily extended along existing freight corridors to Fremantle Station. Part of that line south of Fremantle Station previously saw passenger trains during the America's Cup in 1987
7. whilst no active provision has been made for it (rather short sightedly) there is a future possibility of a direct connection between the Ellenbrook Line and the Airport Line to enable direct trains from Ellenbrook to the Airport and southwards towards Cockburn Central and Mandurah, but that would be many years in the future.
8. operationally trains from the Airport Line will generally run through to Claremont on the Fremantle line to minimise terminating trains at Perth Station. Presumably a similar situation will operate when the Ellenbrook Line opens
9. the Armadale/Thornlie line will close for 18 months from early 2023 to enable the section between Carlisle Station and Beckenham Station to be elevated (a la Skyrail in Melbourne) to enable elimination of 6 level crossings. Welshpool Station will permanently close as a result of this due to low patronage

[Twirlinggamer]

I like how 60% Of comments are Perth residents, and I’m one of them.

[OldAussieAds]

I'm from Sydney but spent about 3 months living in Perth for work in the early 2000s. I used the free Cats (metro busses) when traveling around the CBD and trains when traveling to and from the suburbs. I get this was some time ago and only for a relatively short time. But I do remember thinking the public transport felt more reliable than Sydney's. Of course it was servicing a much smaller population in a much smaller geographical area. But I got by without a car living in West Perth (inner city) and Cannington (the burbs).

For what it's worth, I'm not downplaying Sydney's public transport. Our rail network is incredibly complex which is the result of it being much older and servicing a huge population. Sometimes I'm amazed at how well it does given the circumstances. But if you're in the suburbs of Sydney, your millage will vary. If your suburb has a train station and you're mainly traveling to the CBD or other large population area then you'll love our public transport. Otherwise, you'll probably need a car.

[alex]

Nice one! I love how Perth has taken a long term approach to transport planning. Things as simple as building the underpass off the Mandurah line north of Cockburn Central to enable the future Thornlie-Cockburn link - 15 years ago. Not to mention the beautiful integration of the Optus stadium with the rail system and active modes. Perth is a shining example of why "$city is too small for transit" or "$city is too sprawly for rail" arguments are nonsense. So many cities can learn from Perth.

[illiiilli]

Wow, didn't expect Perth to be covered tonight, a welcome surprise.

I don't catch the train much, but they're alright when I di

[rudraguin]

I’m so glad you covered this system of Perth, Western Australia, Australia!
I often used studied the system over the last two years, the first time I ever started studying passenger train systems in Australia! I was quite impressed with the system in Perth, and given the size of the city and how the regional rail system operates, I think it’s quite an amazing system!

[XRunNGun]

Perth resident here. Interesting to see your take on our rail system however it still has a lot of issues. Our trains are fast but our stations are sparse and last mile public transit is an absolute nightmare in many parts of the city. Our city has a particularly low population density because most people live in large houses on large blocks of land and our urban planning has historically been centred around owning a car - very similar to American cities. The result is that unless you live close to a train station (most people don't), you will have to take a bus to your final destination and these buses are low in frequency (compared to many European cities), often out-of-sync with the train timetable and take a long time to reach their destination because of the distances they need to travel and the high frequency of stops needed to serve all of the areas on their routes. The urban sprawl also means that you may end up walking almost half a kilometre to get to the bus stop from your house. The result is that most people just chose to drive unless they are commuting to the central business district in peak hour, when there is nowhere to park. In peak hour, some people are able to make use of park 'n ride facilities but these aren't available at all stations (underground carparks might help solve this but they would cost the government a lot of money I don't think they are willing to spend).
There are also many suburbs where a rail line or a station with park 'n ride facilities is not within a reasonable distance which means a slow, frequently-stopping peak hour direct bus into the CBD is the fastest means of public transport. If I could drive to work, it would take me 12 minutes however on public transport, it takes 45 minutes! Cycling is an option but the distance is such that I would have to shower and change clothes at work due to the sweat which ultimately adds another 15 minutes to the effective time before I'm at my desk.

E-scooters are a way forward that not enough people are talking about. They have the potential to massively increase the accessibility radius of train stations, especially if appropriate infrastructure is built. Our trains are also wide enough to take plenty of folded e-scooters.

[ThebusofdoomFSX]

For a rather small and somewhat sprawling city I've always felt that Perth is a city that does transit right. The rail network is impressively modern and is definitely among the best in the entire country. The service is fast and frequent with trains on all lines running at least every 15 minutes during the day and with speeds up to 130kph on the Joondalup and Manurah lines; journey times are relatively small. The trains themselves are clean and well maintained with rubbish and graffiti being a rare sight (although I wish the trains had more comfortable seats). The larger stations too are very well designed with plenty of amenities; shelter and very easy interchange with bus services. It's the little things too that make Perth's rail system great, for instance at many stations the platform sits level with the trains meaning passengers with wheelchairs can simply board the train unassisted with minimal gap between the train and the platform.

Perhaps what makes the public transport network a success is that it feels like a truly integrated and connected transport network; with train and bus services working together to maximize public transport coverage. Building a rail line on a freeway reserve isn't good for walkability with trains stations having small walk-up catchment, but despite this the Joonadlup and Manurah lines attract good patronage partly by having effective feeder buses that transfer passengers on and off the rail network. Even in the outer suburbs it's not uncommon to have buses running every 20 minutes, 15 minutes, or in some cases; every 10 minutes during peak times. This is perhaps in contrast to some North American cities that build new rail lines and simply rely on park & ride to get passengers onto trains. It's amazing to think that despite Perth having a smaller population than Brisbane and it's rail network being around half the size; Perth's rail network consistently gets more patronage than Brisbane's rail network, which shows you what a rail network with good frequencies and good integration with other modes can achieve.