The Mandurah Railway Line is an interurban railway line, running through the south western suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. Partly located in the median of the Kwinana Freeway, the line connects Perth with Western Australia's second largest city, Mandurah. The line opened on December 23, 2007.

History

Legislation for the construction of the Mandurah Line was passed in December 1999. The original proposed route branched from the Armadale Line at Kenwick, and then ran alongside the freight lines until Jandakot where it would run in the middle of the Kwinana Freeway. However, a bill passed in November 2002 after a change of state government saw that the route would start at Perth, traverse the Kwinana Freeway, and then continue along its initial route after Jandakot. This second route was much more direct, and allowed through services with the Joondalup Line. However, the second direct route was more costly than the original indirect route.

Construction of the line started in February 2004. The contract for the city centre works, including the tunnels, was awarded to a joint venture of Leighton Contractors and Kumagai Gumi. The contractors used a Tunnel Boring Machine manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The first tunnel was completed on June 3, 2006, and the second tunnel was completed on October 27, 2006.

Between 2004 and 2006, the Leighton Kumagai Joint Venture (LKJV) was affected by a series of industrial disputes involving the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union. This culminated in the prosecution of 107 workers for taking illegal industrial action, by the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Prosecution of "the Perth 107" became a national and international cause celebre, in part because it occurred as the Federal Government's unrelated WorkChoices reforms were taking place. The government attracted criticism from the political left and union leaders around the world, including the International Labour Organization.

The line was proposed to be opened on July 29, 2007, but was not complete by that date.

From October 7, 2007 to October 14, a planned shutdown of the whole Fremantle Line and partial closure of the Joondalup Line between Perth and Leederville stations was undertaken to allow workers to connect the Mandurah Line to the Joondalup Line. On October 8 there was considerable publicity about delays experienced by commuters. This was mainly due to signalling problems associated with works for the shutdown week. As a result of the problems on October 8 and October 9, passengers on the Joondalup line were given free travel from first service until 8:00am. On October 15, the Perth Underground and Esplanade stations were opened. On this day, the railway also carried its first passengers with the extension of Joondalup Line services to Esplanade station.

On November 9, 2007, the first train crossed Narrows Bridge to Rockingham station, testing the new railway line at around 7:30am with a driver and a group of engineers. After the line testing completed, driver training was undertaken.

The line was officially opened on December 23 2007, with the first train carrying 1500 passengers, including 1000 members of the public selected by ballot. To celebrate, all Transperth bus, train and ferry services were free. On December 24 2007, new routes and schedules took effect on many services, including the Mandurah Line.

The line replaced bus services which previously travelled along the freeway to the city, which now terminate at Mandurah Line stations. The exception is Canning Highway services, which will stop at Canning Bridge station before continuing to the city.

Extension

A possible extension to Erskine might take place, to turn into Mandurah/Old Coast Road and turn off into Erskine.

Depot

The Mandurah Rail Depot, Perth is located immediately north of Mandurah station.

Train stations

• For the station name:
• Red denotes Perth CBD stations.
• Orange denotes Mandurah line stations.
• Black denotes terminuses.
• For the zones, see Transperth fare zone. FTZ stands for Free Transit Zone.
• For the patterns, see next section.
• The section between the Perth underground and Esplanade stations is considered to be part of both the Joondalup and Mandurah Lines.

Stopping patterns

• All - all stops to Mandurah.
• C - does not stop at Canning Bridge.
• K - (to Rockingham) all stops to Cockburn Central, then express to Rockingham.
• K - (to Perth) departs from Rockingham, all stops to Perth.
• W - all stops to Cockburn Central.

See also

• New MetroRail
• Transperth
• Transperth Trains
• List of Perth railway stations

References

Name of Station	Code	Zones	Serving Suburbs	Pattern stops at this station				Transfers
Mandurah Line
Perth Underground	MPH	1, FTZ	Perth, Northbridge	All	C	K	W	Through to Joondalup Line Platform transfer to Armadale / Thornlie Line, Fremantle Line, Midland Line, and the Transwa Australind service to Bunbury Bus transfers at Wellington Street Bus Station
Esplanade	REE	1, FTZ	Perth	All	C	K	W	Through to Joondalup Line Bus transfers at Esplanade Busport
Canning Bridge	RCE	1	Applecross, Como	All		K	W	Bus transfers
Bull Creek	RBK	2	Bateman, Brentwood, Bull Creek	All	C	K	W	Bus transfers
Murdoch	RMU	2	Bateman, Bull Creek, Murdoch, Leeming	All	C	K	W	Bus transfers (including CircleRoute), TransWA coach services
Cockburn Central	RCL	3	Jandakot, Atwell, Success, Cockburn Central	All	C	K	W	Bus transfers
Kwinana	RKA	4	Bertram, Orelia, Parmelia, The Spectacles	All	C	KT		Bus transfers
Wellard	RWD	4	Leda, Wellard	All	C	KT		Bus transfers
Rockingham	RRM	5	Cooloongup, Hillman, Rockingham	All	C	K		Bus transfers
Warnbro	RWO	5	Warnbro, Waikiki	All	C			Bus transfers
Mandurah	RMH	7	Greenfields, Mandurah	All	C			Bus transfers, TransWA coach services