The Fremantle line is a suburban railway and service in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

that connects the central business district (CBD) of

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

with

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

History

The railway on which the service runs opened on 1 March 1881 as the first suburban railway line in

by William Robinson.Our History
Public Transport Authority It originally operated as the Eastern Railway and ran between

and

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, via central

. In March 1884, the railway line was extended via Midland Junction to Bellevue and later to

Clackline Clackline is a locality in the Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about east-north-east of Perth, Western Australia, Perth. History John Forrest, later Premier of Western Australia, recorded the name Clacklin ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

and Northam. The railway line opened as a single track with a passing loop at

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ** Claremont Football Club, West Australian Footba ...

, it was duplicated in 1896/97. A dedicated freight line was later added on the western side between Cottesloe and the

Leighton Marshalling Yard Leighton may refer to: Places In Australia: * Leighton, Western Australia, a beachside locality In the United Kingdom: * Leighton, Cambridgeshire *Leighton, Cheshire * Leighton, North Yorkshire ** Leighton Reservoir * Leighton, Shropshire *Leig ...

. On 22 October 1898, the railway line was extended south to Robbs Jetty, on 1 July 1903 via Cockburn to Coogee and on 19 December 1955 via

Woodman Point Woodman Point is a headland on the west coast of Western Australia. It is located in the Perth suburb of Coogee, south-south-west of the city centre and south of Fremantle. It extends westward into the Indian Ocean. The coastal waters immed ...

to Kwinana. The Coogee to Woodman Point section closed on 16 September 1973, followed by Robbs Jetty to Coogee in February 1986. In July 1926, the

Fremantle Railway Bridge Fremantle Railway Bridge (known also as the North Fremantle Bridge) is the railway bridge on the Fremantle railway line that crosses the Swan River between Fremantle and North Fremantle. It is the second structure with that name. The original b ...

over the Swan River was partly washed away in a flood, with one line restored in October 1926 and the second in April 1928. In the 1960s, as part of the standard gauge project, the section south of Cockburn was replaced by the Kwinana line on a different alignment. One of the lines north of Cockburn to the

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...

at North Quay and Leighton Marshalling Yard was converted to standard gauge. The Fremantle Railway Bridge was converted to

dual gauge In railway engineering, " gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to ...

. A marshalling yard was built at Robbs Jetty. In 1966, the eastern railway metropolitan passenger services were curtailed to terminate at Midland. Fremantle Line closure plaque

Passenger services on the Fremantle line were suspended on 1 September 1979. The decision was based on three one day counts in 1971, 1975 and 1977. The Liberal government of

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

planned to convert the railway reserve into a busway, citing figures which showed a loss of $1.14 per passenger-journey on trains versus a loss of $0.26 per passenger-journey on buses. The closure of the line was opposed by Friends of the Railway (FOR), which submitted a petition of 100,000 signatures and prepared a 98-page report arguing for its retention. The railway was kept in working order despite the closure, initially because narrow gauge freight trains still used it to access Fremantle, there being no other narrow gauge access to the port. Later when a narrow gauge link was constructed from Cockburn to North Fremantle,

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

s had placed a ban on working on dismantling any track or equipment. The service was reinstated on 29 July 1983 following a change of government which saw Brian Burke and the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...

(ALP) come to power. During the closure of the rail line, patronage dropped by 30%. For the staging of the

1987 America's Cup The 1987 America's Cup was the twenty-sixth challenge for the America's Cup. The American challenger '' Stars & Stripes 87'', sailed by Dennis Conner, beat the Australian defender '' Kookaburra III'', sailed by Iain Murray, in a four-race swe ...

, stations south of

were erected for use by special trains at The Esplanade, Success Harbour and

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...

. The

Hotham Valley Railway The Hotham Valley Tourist Railway (commonly Hotham Valley Railway) is a tourist and heritage railway in the Peel region of Western Australia. The railway operates over a 32 kilometre section of the original Pinjarra to Narrogin railway line ...

operated a daily service on this section of the line with a W class steam locomotive as the ''Spinnaker Run'' between October 1986 and February 1987. The narrow and standard gauge lines were rebuilt as a single dual gauge line at the same time. Having been disused since 1987, the three stations were demolished in September 2018. During 1990, work commenced on building a new North Fremantle station, north of its original location, which opened for service on 28 July 1991. Leighton station, which was further north, was demolished during the

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histo ...

of the line. Regular electric services started in September 1991. Today there are 17 stations on the line. As part of the Subi Centro project, Subiaco station and of the line were sunk in 1998. Between 2011 and 2014, the Fremantle line was sunk between Lake Street and the

Horseshoe Bridge The Horseshoe Bridge in Perth, Western Australia is a traffic bridge that connects the Perth CBD to Northbridge, carrying William Street. It was constructed in 1904 to pass over the Fremantle railway line, with the horseshoe shape designed to f ...

in the

CBD to allow for the redevelopment of the area. Perth station's former Fremantle to Midland platform became an island platform, with an additional platform and track built on the north side. Platforms west of the Horseshoe Bridge were demolished. In June 2011 a $237 million cost blow-out was revealed, added to a 2009 project estimate of $500 million. The new tunnel is the first in Western Australia to use a rigid

overhead conductor rail An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equip ...

instead of overhead wires, the same system as used on the

Madrid Metro The Madrid Metro ( Spanish: ''Metro de Madrid'') is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the 14th longest rapid transit system in the world, with a total length of 293 km (182 mi). Its gr ...

. With overhead wires, the clearance between the new tunnel and the existing Joondalup line tunnel is only . By using a conductor rail, the new tunnel could be built to a smaller diameter, allowing for an increased clearance between the two. The new tunnel opened on 18 July 2013. With the privatisation of

Westrail Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra respons ...

in 2000, responsibility for the Perth to

section passed to the Public Transport Authority and the South Beach to Cockburn Junction section to

Arc Infrastructure Arc Infrastructure (previously known as Brookfield Rail and WestNet Rail) is a transport infrastructure owner and access provider in Western Australia with a long-term lease on the network from the Government of Western Australia. It operates a ...

, although operational responsibility for the standard gauge line is with Arc Infrastructure. A new bridge over the Swan River . This will carry the Fremantle line with the existing bridge retained for use by freight trains to

Fremantle Harbour Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and nava ...

Services

Transperth Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system serving the city and suburban areas of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation. Train op ...

operate services on the line from Fremantle through the Perth CBD to Midland on the Midland line. Freight services operate from Kewdale and Forrestfield to North Quay. Until July 2015 these were operated by

Aurizon Aurizon ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National. it was the world’s largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a Queensland Government-owned company, it was privatised and floated ...

when

SCT Logistics SCT Logistics is an Australian interstate transport company operating rail and road haulage, with facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Parkes, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. History SCT Logistics was founded in 1974 as Specialised Container Tr ...

took over.

Rolling stock

Until the ADG class railcars entered service in 1953, services on the Fremantle line were operated by steam locomotives. Some peak-hour services continued to be steam hauled until the arrival of the

ADK/ADB class diesel multiple unit The ADK class are a class of diesel multiple units that were previously operated by Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) in Perth, and later Transdev Auckland on Auckland's suburban rail network, and are currently operated by MetroBus i ...

s in 1968 resulted in the end of steam haulage. When the line was electrified in 1991, A-series electric multiple units took over. B-series electric multiple units have been used irregularly (for example, for special events services to

West Leederville West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

). Two three-car B-series trains were introduced on regular weekday peak services from 21 July 2019.

Patronage

Below is the annual patronage of Fremantle railway line from 2010 to 2011 financial year. Figures are provided as total boardings, which includes all fare-paying boardings and free travel on stations within the free transit zones as well as transfers between stations. The figures for rail replacement and special events services are not included in the total.

Cultural references

The Fremantle line featured in the 2006 film '' Last Train to Freo''.

Description

During hot weather, the tracks can distort. As a result, train speeds are reduced by approximately when the air temperature is above , and by an additional when the air temperature is above . The Transperth network currently uses

fixed block Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enor ...

signalling and

automatic train protection Automatic train protection (ATP) is a type of train protection system which continually checks that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects. If it is ...

, which stops trains that pass a red signal and slows trains that drive too fast. Click Download Now, then Download for Information Only. Make sure HCS SWTR Book 1 - Scope of Works DRAFT 01-09-21_Redacted.pdf is selected, then click Download Documents. These systems will be replaced by an

automatic train control Automatic train control (ATC) is a general class of train protection systems for railways that involves a speed control mechanism in response to external inputs. For example, a system could effect an emergency brake application if the driver ...

system, likely a

communications-based train control Communications-based train control (CBTC) is a railway signaling system that uses telecommunications between the train and track equipment for traffic management and infrastructure control. CBTC allows a train's position to be known more accura ...

system.

Route

Stations

Stopping patterns and frequency

The Fremantle railway line has one all-stops service pattern. All stops services run every 15 minutes during the day Monday to Sunday, every 10 minutes (six trains per hour) during the weekday peak period, and every half an hour or every hour at night. When the Airport railway line began operation, weekday peak period frequency between Claremont and Fremantle was reduced to five trains per hour. A special D stopping pattern servicing

Shenton College Shenton College is a public co-educational partially selective high school, located in Shenton Park, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. History Shenton College was established in January 2001 through the amalgamation of Swanbourne and Hol ...

previously ran between Perth station and Shenton Park station once daily in each direction. This pattern last ran and was deleted on 7 October 2022, due to the Airport line rendering it useless.

References

External links

*
North Quay - Fremantle track layout
SA Track & Signal
Fremantle - Cockburn Junction track layout
SA Track & Signal
Cockburn Junction track layout
SA Track & Signal {{Public Transport Authority of Western Australia railway stations, Fremantle=y, state=collapsed Railway lines in Perth, Western Australia Railway lines opened in 1881 1881 establishments in Australia Eastern Railway (Western Australia)