Transperth Trains

The TTO division operates an electrified suburban train system with more than 1045 services on an average weekday, and more than 6640 weekly services.

At June 30, the system covered 173.1km of track with 70 stations on five lines, and a fleet of 234 railcars which can be coupled in configurations of two, three, four or six-car trains. The train network consists of the Joondalup Line (33.2km), the Fremantle Line (19km), the Midland Line (16km), the Armadale/Thornlie Line (30.5km, and a 3km spur line to Thornlie), and the Mandurah Line (71.4km).

The year’s developments

• Work continued on the installation of the Platform Detection System on A-series railcars. This system promotes passenger safety as railcar doors will not open where there is no platform.
• Delivery of the remaining 12 new railcars (four three-car sets) completing the current order of 45 B-series railcars (15 three-car sets).
• Selected EDI Rail Bombardier Transportation (Maintenance) Pty Ltd (EDI-BT) as the preferred tenderer for the electric multiple unit railcar maintenance and cleaning contract.

In 2010-11, the train network operated 14.307 million service kilometres, up 5.3 per cent from 13.582m in 2009-10, following the introduction of additional railcar sets into service during the year.

Total capacity on the train network increased to 6838.7m passenger place kilometres in 2010-11 from 6456.2m in 2009-10. The rate of increase was 5.9 per cent compared with 14.4 per cent in 2009-10.

Cost of the service

In 2010-11, the total cost of providing Transperth train services, including annual capital charges, was $379.175m, up 2.1 per cent from $371.554m in 2009-10. Annual capital charges (interest and depreciation) increased by 7.5 per cent to $152.288m from $141.635m.

Train operating costs (including transfer price) were $226.887m, down 1.3 per cent from $229.919m in 2009-10 due to a 9.7 per cent reduction in the transfer price. However, operating costs excluding the transfer price increased by 3.4 per cent as a result of increasing labour and energy costs.

Patronage

Transperth Trains: Patronage (millions)

Patronage on Transperth train services increased for the eighth year in succession.

In 2010-11, total boardings reached 58.868m, up 4.4 per cent from 56.409m in 2009-10, while cash and SmartRider initial boardings also recorded a 4.4 per cent increase to 37.884m from 36.284m. The rate of increase in 2009-10 was 3.0 per cent for both total boardings and cash and SmartRider initial boardings.

Fare-paying boardings on rail recorded a significant increase of 4.4 per cent to 36.182m compared with a fall of 0.5 per cent in 2009-10 to 34.642m. Boardings on special event services with joint ticketing increased 15.1 per cent to 1.282m, from 1.114m previously.

In 2010-11, seniors, aged and disability pensioners used their free travel entitlement to complete 2.499m total boardings on train, up 3.9 per cent from 2.404m in 2009-10.

Boardings per service kilometre on the train network fell despite the increase in patronage because service kilometres increased at higher rate (5.3 per cent). Total boardings per service kilometre fell 0.9 per cent to 4.115, from 4.153 in 2009-10. Cash and SmartRider initial boardings per service kilometre also slipped 0.9 per cent, to 2.648 from 2.671 previously.

Passenger satisfaction

The 2011 Transperth PSM showed that the proportion of users who expressed overall satisfaction with the train system fell, from 93 per cent in 2010, to 88 per cent.

Transperth Trains: Level of overall customer satisfaction

A significant factor in this decline was the perception of overcrowding and the negative publicity surrounding the issue. This occurred at the time the PSM survey was being conducted and before the problem was addressed by the introduction of extra trains. Also, passengers were being inconvenienced by operational changes at Perth station. These changes mainly affected Fremantle Line passengers, whose platform was changed, involving a longer walk between services and to exit the station.

The importance rating of the key service characteristics of Transperth’s train services (other than passenger safety) and the level of satisfaction/dissatisfaction for each key service characteristic are shown in the table.

In 2011, “access to ticket purchase facilities” replaced “SmartRider electronic ticketing” as one of the 10 most important service characteristics. Significantly, the satisfaction rating for all service characteristics declined except for “cleanliness on board” (91 per cent, from 88 per cent previously) and “punctuality” (unchanged).

Passenger safety

The 2011 PSM asked train users: How safe do you generally feel from personal interference or threat from other passengers?

The graph overleaf shows the proportion of respondents who “always” or “usually” feel safe at the specified times at the specified locations.

The results for the five years 2007-2011, show that the proportion of passengers who generally feel safe during the day has remained high - 98 per cent (on-board), and increasing to 99 per cent (station/interchange) in 2011. The proportion of passengers who generally feel safe on board at night, which slipped to 75 per cent in 2010, showed an improvement to 76 per cent.

Transperth Trains: Customer perception of safety

In regard to safety at night at the station/interchange, the proportion of passengers who generally feel safe improved from 70 to 72 per cent, consolidating the significant increase recorded in 2010.

The PTA is committed to ensuring that all passengers feel safe on our train network at all times. To help achieve this aim, digitised CCTV footage from all train stations is monitored at a state-of-the-art facility is manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Major initiatives for 2011-12

• Provide operational expertise for the Perth City Link project and the extension of the Joondalup Line to Butler.
• Continue recruitment of staff to service customer needs on the system.
• Commence the contract with EDI Rail Bombardier Transportation (Maintenance) Pty Ltd (EDI-BT) for the EMU railcar maintenance and cleaning contract.