Perth’s new airport rail will also include a boosted bus network
The federal and Western Australian governments have announced that the soon to be released Perth Forrestfield-Airport link will also include an upgraded bus network.
As the link enters its final stages of testing and commissioning, the new line will be supported by a bus network that includes an additional 26 buses and 1.7 million annual bus service kilometres to the Transperth network.
Metronet says operations will commence on October 9 as driver training has begun, with tunnelling for the project first completed in April 2020.
The Airport Line will be the first passenger rail line to Perth Airport, with the governments expecting the new bus network to support it.
During its first year of service, the governments estimate that an average of 20,000 journeys will be made.
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“Our government is partnering with the WA government to deliver billions of dollars of upgrades and improvements to road and rail projects around WA, creating and supporting thousands of local jobs,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
“As a former infrastructure minister, I know how important access to affordable and accessible public transport is and I’m pleased this important project will start operating later this year.”
The Metronet network is one of the biggest and most complex transport infrastructure projects undertaken in WA’s history, as the bus network will be coupled with the delivery of an 8.5-kilometre rail tunnel travelling underneath the Swan River.