First railcars arrive at new Nowergup train depot

13/6/04

The State Government's New MetroRail Project achieved a major milestone today with the unveiling of the first of 93 state-of-the-art railcars at the new $36million purpose-built Nowergup Depot, north of Clarkson.

Premier Geoff Gallop and Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan jointly opened the new depot, which will ultimately service all trains operating between Clarkson and Mandurah.

The $300million contract with EDI Rail - Bombardier Transportation Pty Ltd to manufacture the new trains and build the massive depot has been delivered on time and on budget.

Dr Gallop said 31 new three-railcar sets would be delivered to Perth during the next two years as the State Government's $1.518billion New MetroRail Project effectively doubled Perth's passenger rail network.

Under the project, the northern suburbs railway will be extended to Clarkson by October this year - at this time, five of the new three-car sets will be ready to increase capacity and comfort for passengers on the northern suburbs line.

Dr Gallop said today's railcar unveiling and depot opening highlighted another important component of the New MetroRail Project.

"To date, much of the project's focus has been on the southern suburbs railway from Perth to Mandurah," Dr Gallop said.

"The project will also see major improvements in the capacity of the highly successful northern suburbs railway.

"Apart from extending the railway from Currambine to Clarkson, we are building a new station at Greenwood and extending platforms at all stations along the line.

"We will have longer trains servicing more people throughout the fast-growing northern suburbs."

When completed, the New MetroRail Project will see a doubling of both the length of the existing passenger rail network as well as the number of railcars - providing new services to almost half-a-million Perth residents.

Ms MacTiernan said the state-of-art railcars were capable of travelling at speeds of up to 130kph – a trip from Clarkson to Perth will take just 30 minutes and Clarkson to Mandurah 78 minutes.

When fully operational, the depot would be home to about 100 staff.

"Being able to deliver the first new railcars to Nowergup on time and just two years after the contract was awarded has been a major achievement," Ms MacTiernan said.

"The New MetroRail Project team and the contractor should be congratulated for their excellent effort.

"Track testing of the new railcars will now commence."

Ms MacTiernan said 85 per cent of contracts for the New MetroRail Project had now been signed.

The last outstanding contracts - to build nine stations on the Southern Suburbs Railway – would be awarded by the end of this year.

"We are well on our way to building a clean, fast, world-class public transport system," she said.

For more information on the New MetroRail project, please visit the New MetroRail website.