The likelihood of a “faster” passenger train connecting the capital of Western Australia with its main tourist and food region may depend on an assessment of its social, economic and environmental benefits.
Key points:
- A $ 500,000 consulting firm will be paid to develop a business case for a faster rail link from Perth to Bunbury
- It is part of a $ 8 million analysis of the big transportation project
- The project was first put on the agenda in the mid-2000s.
The federal and state governments have already pledged $ 8 million for “high-level” investigations into a Perth service in Bunbury that could operate on a separate track from an existing line carrying a multi-commuter diesel train. stops.
This service, Australind, will be committed for a maximum of 18 months by an upgrade of the Armadale Rail Line in 2023.
The new line would also have the potential for more transportation connections in the Busselton and Margaret River tourist region.
WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said a $ 500,000 planning contract had been awarded to KPMG International Advisory Service to have a business case ready by mid-2024.
The journey with the existing Australind diesel train takes at least two and a half hours. (ABC South West: Gian De Poloni)
“The strategic business case is a first step in understanding what a faster public transport link would be between Perth and Bunbury,” Saffioti said.
“The business case will use population data, travel patterns, land use planning and other metrics to assess the economic, social and environmental benefits of the project.”
But he said that if the study found it feasible, they were “realistically many years old.”
How fast is it?
Southwest Liberal MP Steve Thomas called for clarity on the government’s use of the term “faster rail”.
In a previous study, several route options were identified. (ABC South West: Sam Bold)
“The high-speed rail is the old proposal that would take an extension of the train line from Mandurah to Bunbury or if they are looking to increase the speed of the train. [existing] Australind train service, “said Thomas.
“The high-speed rail proposal is a multimillion-dollar exercise that has been talked about for many years and to date, the business cases that have been made have not accumulated.
He said speeding up Australia was a much cheaper option, but he wasn’t sure if it was the best option.
A state government spokesman said the $ 500,000 valuation would examine “a range of transport links between Perth and Bunbury”.
Power to prove
Bunbury MP Don Punch said dual lines would be better suited to the growing needs of the region.
“The current southwest line is very busy and a commuter train with all the stops I think will continue in the future,” Punch said.
“As economic and social conditions grow, we will see the opportunity for express service.”
Don Punch had criticized spending money on a new high-speed train plan before he came to power. (ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch)
Mr Punch said the combined $ 8 million in state and federal funding would also investigate what could feed the train.
“This particular study will examine engineering, including new technologies,” Punch said.
“This could be a hydrogen-based train we’re starting to see in Europe … my sense is it’s going to be electrification or an alternative fuel.”
He said the study would also seek to reserve land for the railway line.
Long story of the train conversation
The potential for faster rail links between Perth and Bunbury has been raised over the past two decades.
Former Labor Prime Minister Alan Carpenter commissioned a feasibility study in 2008 on the cost of a diesel train traveling from the Perth-Mandurah line to central Cockburn and then following Forrest Road.
The 2010 report set the cost of the line at at least $ 1.2 billion, excluding many geotechnical and environmental costs. (ABC South West: Sam Bold)
This study found that extending the Mandurah to Bunbury railway line would be very expensive, costing at least $ 1.2 billion.
In 2015, the Barnett government stopped the project, but it re-emerged as a problem before the 2017 election, where the government went from Liberal to Labor.
The Nationals pledged $ 3 million for another feasibility study for the Mandurah line extension.
Workers thwarted that plan and instead campaigned heavily with a $ 30 million pledge to improve Australind’s diesel line, which runs through inland cities such as Harvey and Brunswick.
There are several route options along the Forrest Highway and South Western Highway. (ABC South West: Sam Bold)
In 2017, then-Labor candidate Don Punch described it as a “fast train mirage”.
“Why spend $ 3 million replicating work that’s already been done?” he told ABC five years ago, referring to the previous plan.
But in December 2020, the state and federal governments announced the new study at a cost of $ 8 million.
The plan comes against a backdrop of billions of dollars in cost bursts for the state government’s Metropolitan Area Railroad Expansion Metro.