Seniors urged to plan ahead for rail disruptions
Seniors are being urged to plan ahead if they will be using public transport to get to Perth in July and August, due to the city’s biggest-ever planned rail disruptions.
Two periods of temporary part-closures will allow essential work to take place on the Perth City Link project.
Transperth spokesman David Hynes said replacement buses would operate whenever trains are cancelled – the first shut runs from July 12 to July 17; the second from July 31 to August 4.
“The shuts effectively close the Perth and Perth Underground stations – passengers will still be able to get into the city, but may need to supplement their journey with a replacement bus service, or walk a bit further,” he said.
“We want to make sure that people travelling to Perth during the part-closures allow extra time to get to their final destination.
“The first shut starts at 7pm on Friday July 12 and runs to the last service on Wednesday July 17. Normal services resume the next morning.
“During this shut, which will allow the new Fremantle Line tunnel to be connected to the rail network, Midland and Armadale-Thornlie line trains will stop at McIver on weekdays and Claisebrook on weekends, Joondalup and Mandurah trains will stop at Leederville and Esplanade respectively, and the entire Fremantle Line will be closed.
“The second shut runs from 3pm on Wednesday July 31 to the last service on Sunday August 4, with normal services resuming on the Monday.
“Again, Joondalup and Mandurah line passengers will be able to travel on the train only as far as Leederville and Esplanade. The Fremantle Line again will be closed, but the Midland, Thornlie and Armadale lines are unaffected.”
Mr Hynes said it was important that older passengers, who may not be regular public transport users, think about their travel in advance, and be ready for possible replacement buses.
“Planning around these closures has been very thorough,” he said.
“This is not a decision we make lightly, so we are putting a lot of effort into minimising the impact and letting people know what is happening.
“We have scheduled the first shut during the school holidays – though this avoids impacting school travel, we know it is a time when lot of our passengers are older people taking their grandchildren out for the day.
“Anyone who is not sure can visit the Transperth website (www.transperth.wa.gov.au), or call our InfoLine (13 62 13) for more information on how the shut might affect them.”