Railways in Western Australia were developed in the 19th century both by the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also common ...

and a number of private companies. Today passenger rail services are controlled by the Public Transport Authority (a department of the Government of Western Australia) through

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 ...

, which operates public transport in

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 ...

, and

Transwa Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east. The Transwa system provides transport to the major regional ...

, which operates country passenger services. Great Southern Rail operates the ''

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, li ...

''. The interstate standard gauge line east from

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area inclu ...

is owned by the

Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation spanning 8,500km across five states, 39 worksites and more than 50 First Nations. ...

, with most other lines leased by the state 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 ...

. Freight rail was privatised in 2000. General intrastate freight is mainly 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 ...

, while grain traffic is also operated by Aurizon under contract to the

CBH Group The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym for Co-operative Bulk Handling), is a grain growers' cooperative that handles, markets and processes grain from the wheatbelt of Western Australia. History CBH was formed on 5 April 1933, a ...

. Interstate traffic is operated by

Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Federal, New South Wales and Victorian Governments) were combined with Freig ...

and SCT Logistics. Aurizon also operate an interstate mineral sands service to Kwinana from

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. I ...

for Tronox. A number of private iron ore haulage railways also operate in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a gl ...

region of the state.

History

Railway construction circa 1926, Western Australia

The Western Australian lines developed in narrow gauge from

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 ...

(the port of

Geraldton Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

, Bunbury, Albany and Esperance, mainly for carrying grain and minerals, with the private

Midland Railway Company The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

and Great Southern Railway adding gauge lines in the Wheatbelt with the support of land grants. In 1907, the standard-gauge

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the easter ...

from

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a seaport, it is now a road traffic and railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about north of the state c ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

was authorised. Construction started in 1912, and it was completed in 1917. It was run by the Commonwealth Railways. In the 1960s standard () gauge lines penetrated to Perth and Esperance and long distance heavy-haul railways were built in the

region by major iron mining companies, particularly BHP and Hamersley Iron. The Perth suburban lines were electrified and extended. Government railways were controlled by the ''Department of Works and Railways'' from 1877. The department became

Western Australian Government Railways 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 ...

(WAGR) in 1890. WAGR became

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 1975 and continued to manage both passenger and freight rail services in Western Australia until 2000, when the freight business was sold to the

Australian Railroad Group Australian Railroad Group (ARG) was an Australian rail freight operator. It began operations in Western Australia on 17 December 2000 following its purchase of the Westrail freight business. It was purchased by QR National in June 2006. The mai ...

who operated it under the Australian Western Railroad brand. This business was purchased by Queensland Rail in 2006 and rebranded

in 2013. Westrail’s freight rail lines were leased to WestNet Rail, another subsidiary of the Australian Railroad Group. This business was acquired by Babcock & Brown in 2006 and sold again in 2010 to

Brookfield Asset Management Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$725 billion of assets under management in 2022. It ...

and rebranded Brookfield Rail. In July 2017 it was again rebranded as

. The WAGR's remaining functions, including owning the rail network and operating regional passenger services were transferred to the

Western Australian Government Railways Commission The Western Australian Government Railways Commission was formed on 18 December 2000 to take over the non-freight operations of Westrail, following the freight operations being sold to Australian Western Railroad. It was the owner of the non-m ...

. On 1 January 2003, the commission's functions were absorbed by the Public Transport Authority with passenger services operated under the

brand.

Timeline

The timeline can be considered in terms of events, or eras. May and Gray's History of Passenger Carriages chapters offer an insight into a set of decades or slightly longer stages of railway development. * Early Years (1877–1890) * Gold and the boom years (1891–1900) * Continued expansion and consolidation (1901–1910) * War and roaring twenties (1911–1930) * Depression and another war (1931–1944) * Post war reconstruction, but the rot sets in (1945–1958) * An Indian summer (1959–1975) * Just a shadow (1976 -)

By years

* 1871 - Private Ballaarat Tramline opens from Lockville to Yoganup, south of Perth * 1879 - WAGR

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

gauge line opens between

and

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

* 1881 – Eastern line opens from

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 ...

* 1893 – South Western line opens from Perth to Bunbury * 1894 –

opens the Midland line from Midland Junction to Walkaway, connecting with the WAGR line to Geraldton * 1896 – Eastern Goldfields line reaches

* 1917 – Standard gauge

connects eastern Australia with Western Australia, with a

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

at Kalgoorlie * 1968 – Kalgoorlie to Perth standard gauge line opens. (Lines east of Merredin

converted Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

to standard gauge, including Kalgoorlie-Esperance & Kalgoorlie-Leonora. North and south of Merredin remains narrow gauge only. West of Northam becomes

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 ...

.) * 1970 – Inaugural

service, revamped passenger service from Perth to Sydney via Adelaide. * 1986 – Electrification of Perth suburban lines from with a

25 kV AC Railway electrification systems using alternating current (AC) at are used worldwide, especially for high-speed rail. It is usually supplied at the standard utility frequency (typically 50 or 60Hz), which simplifies traction substations. The dev ...

overhead power supply commences * 1993 – Northern Suburbs Transit System commences operation with a new line opened from

Joondalup Joondalup () is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, approximately north of Perth's central business district. It contains the central business district of the regional City of Joondalup and acts as the primary urban centre of Perth's oute ...

* 2007 – The Mandurah line opens as part of the New MetroRail project, which also included construction of the Thornlie spur and Greenwood station *2010 – the Metro Area Express was announced. The project would have introduced light rail to Perth along some of the former tram routes. The project was abandoned in 2016. *2017 – Metronet formed to manage extensions to the Perth rail system including the Thornlie-Cockburn link.

First lines

Private railways for carrying timber were built south of

from Lockville (just north of

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...

) to Yoganup in 1871, and from Rockingham to Jarrahdale soon after. The first government railway in the State was a gauge line between

and

and was opened in 1879 to transport lead and copper to port. It closed in 1957. The WAGR opened the Eastern line from

and

in 1881. It was extended to Chidlow in 1884,

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 ...

in 1885 and

Beverley Beverley is a market and minster town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre and north-west of City of Hull. The town is known for ...

in 1886. Branch lines were built to

Belmont Belmont may refer to: People * Belmont (surname) Places * Belmont Abbey (disambiguation) * Belmont Historic District (disambiguation) * Belmont Hotel (disambiguation) * Belmont Park (disambiguation) * Belmont Plantation (disambiguation) * Belmon ...

, Northam and Toodyay by 1888.

Southern lines

The Beverley line was extended to Albany in 1889 by the Great Southern Railway, which was taken over by WAGR in 1896. The South Western Railway was built from Perth to Bunbury in 1893, with branches to

Collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Man ...

Flinders Bay Flinders Bay is a bay and locality that is immediately south of the townsite of Augusta, and close to the mouth of the Blackwood River. The locality and bay lies to the north east of Cape Leeuwin which is the most south-westerly mainland poin ...

and Northcliffe.

Northern lines

The

opened a

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...

from Midland Junction to Walkaway in 1894, where it met the WAGR line from Geraldton opened in 1887. It was acquired by the WAGR in 1964.

Goldfields line

The Northam line was extended to

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

in 1894 and Coolgardie and

in 1896. This line connected with the standard gauge

to eastern Australia in 1917 at a

. The replacement standard gauge line opened in 1968.

Timber lines

Wheatbelt branch lines

Isolated branch lines

The

had two isolated branches: The isolated

Marble Bar Railway The Port Hedland–Marble Bar railway was a railway in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, running into the hinterland from the north-west coast. History The line was a Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) gauge branch line ...

was opened in July 1911. The last train to run out of Port Hedland operated on 25 October 1951, with the railway closed on 31 October 1951. The Hopetoun to Ravensthorpe railway was an isolated branch opened on 3 June 1909, and closed on 23 February 1935. The Hopetoun jetty line was handed over to the Harbour and Light Department on 1 January 1936. It was officially closed on 13 January 1946.

Operations

Perth suburban network

* In 1982, public protest led to the reopening of the Fremantle railway, beginning a new era of the metropolitan rail policy. In 1991

completed the electrification of its existing railway lines, utilising

electric multiple units An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

and a

overhead power supply system. * In 1993, the Northern Suburbs Transit System commenced operations. * 2007 saw the completion of the New MetroRail project.

Regional passenger

controls public transport services outside of Perth, including passenger services from Perth to

, Northam and Bunbury. These trains are named the '' Prospector'', '' AvonLink'', and '' Australind''. Great Southern Rail operates the ''

'' from Perth to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

and Sydney.

Pilbara iron ore lines

Four isolated heavy duty railways for the cartage of

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...

in the

region have always been private concerns operated as part of the production line between mine and port. These lines have pushed the limit of the wheel to rail interface which has led to much useful research of value to railways worldwide. In April 2008,

Fortescue Metals Group Fortescue Metals Group Limited (often referred to as Fortescue Metals Group, FMG, or simply Fortescue) is an Australian iron ore company. As of 2017, Fortescue is the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the world. The company has holdings of m ...

opened the Fortescue railway from Cloud Break mine to Port Hedland. In 2016, Hancock Prospecting opened a line from Roy Hill. Another iron ore line has been proposed to the port of Oakajee, this will have open access to any iron ore mine wishing to use it. A

network based on the new

Oakajee Port Oakajee Port is a proposed deep water port to be built in the Mid West region of Western Australia, north of Geraldton, to service the region's growing iron ore industry. History Between 1879 and 1957, Oakagee was a siding and locality on th ...

north of

has been proposed by the Department of Transport. In 2010, Rio Tinto announced plans to expand capacity on the railway line linking its iron ore mines to Dampier; this would increase capacity to per year, to meet increasing demand for iron ore. The railway lines are: * Hamersley & Robe River railway (Rio Tinto) * Mount Newman railway (BHP) * Goldsworthy railway (BHP) * Fortescue railway (FMG)

References

External links

Pilbara Railways
– rail enthusiast site

Rail Freight Network Map
Arc Infrastructure {{Australian rail