Well it seems there’s a track record of QT cutting back on projects that then make them less than optimal. I believe there were many cases of this on the Redcliffe line. Plus the roads obsession that exists within the organisation.
BCC have a track record of trying to get in the way of meaningful reform, just seem to have a “screw you, I’m doing things my way” approach, and seem to actively discourage integration with rail and instead compete with it.
I’m not sure what QR’s attitude is, but that seems to be the attitude of the other organisations.
I don’t know what QR’s attitude towards things is, but I can only assume it’s them screaming into a void because no one in State Parliament, TMR or BCC seems to remember that they exist.
I don’t have the specific documentation, but I believe there were conversations on the old rail back on track forum about things like the layout of Petrie station being changed and it made provision for future projects more challenging as a result (e.g. North West corridor), and track crossover points near Kippa Ring station being sub optimal which can affect on time running on the line. I also recall there being issues with the signalling at the time it was built. I’m not sure if that specific one was a cutback issue or poor planning, or both. If my memory is correct, I seem to recall people saying on the old forum that QR had expressed concerns about these things but were ignored. But I also could be not recalling correctly - many days I can’t even remember where I left my car keys…
I’m not pretending to be an expert or have all the knowledge or inside scoop, just my observations from afar that things appear to be that way. Also might be getting a bit off topic for this thread so can shift to another if needed too…
What are Perth planning next after the Armadale line reopens? Do they try again for the circle lines that Metronet originally envisioned? Or is there another project in the works? Or do they pause rail investment for a while and focus on other things like their surging house prices? (ours aren’t any better, but the Olympics means we can’t afford not to build more public transport).
There are still some gaps they can fill, north and south. But they have also signalled an intention to roll out ‘mid-tier’ transport, which will probably be BRT/LRT.
The video made reference to the original vision, which to my knowledge has not been reaffirmed at any point since Red team won office again in 2017. I have certainly not seen any official announcement in the past couple of years about the intention to complete the circle routes.
Main prority for now is lengthening all platforms that can’t already take 6 car trains and eliminating the remaining 19 level crossings - 3 Fremantle line around Cottesloe), 6 Midland line (outbound from Bayswater) and 10 Armadale line (between Beckenham and Armadale).
Has Perth Achieved 100% 15-minute train frequency coverage?
Perth’s Thornline-Cockburn link opened on 9 June 2025. The timetable has been updated as well.
Crucially, on Sundays Thornline train services ran at half-hour intervals.
It seems that services have now been added to the Sunday timetable to meet the Transperth policy of 15-minute trains, even on weekends.
This means that we will have to amend our prior analysis comparing Greater Brisbane and Perth to reflect the service upgrade. Reduced Sunday frequency at Thornline station was the reason why the Perth network did not hit 100% on Sunday.
Notes
Excerpt from Transperth website showing all-day 15-minute train service on the Thornlie-Cockburn link on a Sunday. Red circle added.
Also goes into detail about the supporting feeder bus network at each train station - and they are genuine feeder buses that pull into the station interchange.
Good to see it completed. I wonder if they’ll extend further south in future. There is already residential development in Whitby. It would make sense to go down to at least Mundijong.
Whilst Brisbane and Perth are very different “beasts”. I congratulate Perth, on its overall approach to PT planning and implementation and its State govt, in remaining laser-focused on the delivery of high quality heavy rail based core elements of its network, supported by buses, not dependant on them, as a short-term politically driven failed fix!
